They were saying, "Well, New Yorkers, big businesses, New Yorkers worth millions of dollars, they're gonna flee New York." Is that happening right now?

It's not happening at all.

Uh, we have just a couple blocks away from where I'm standing, Amex opening a massive new, I believe, headquarters in the financial district.

JPMorgan just opened up a massive headquarters in Midtown East.

Um, we have commercial vac- I don't wanna, I, I don't wanna get too wonky.

Commercial vacancies are low.

The office market is strong.

Do you believe that this is a model that can be replicated elsewhere, even statewide, for example, in New York?

Is the hope that cities like New York and maybe state and local governments will step in and try to fill this void?

It's not only the hope, it is what we are doing every day.

I'll give you the example you mentioned, gyms that make it hard to cancel.

The FTC, the Federal Trade Commission, where I used to work, has largely given up the fight against these illegal subscription traps.

New York City, in my first six months of the Mamdani administration, we banned subscription traps in New York.

That rule takes effect October 1st.

Starting October 1st, if there's a subscription that you can't cancel, go to nyc.gov slash consumers and we'll fight for you.

Are there... institutions or places or sectors that you're targeting first? How are you triaging what you hope to tackle in the position? Well,

It's so frustrating that, you know, it's nice that people can watch it at home, but it's just a shame that comedy can't get more.

I know it is a shame.

And I mean, it was always going to be more of a limited release anyway, just because, you know, it's not a giant studio movie with a 30 million dollar budget.

But it's a really funny movie.

And like it's it's obviously it's David Wayne, Ken Marino.

And so if you know any of David Wayne's the bulk of his previous stuff.

It is very much in the vein of that very absurdist, very silly.

Exclusively.

Right.

I think it does give you a pretty good advantage when it's guys like me and Jeff, because if we if either of us feels we know it, we're probably going to make a pretty good negative bid.

And if we don't know it.

you know, then it gets a little easier, I suppose, with how many you want to go with.

But I would say it's more in terms of like, if we think we know it, the negative bid is probably going to be the bid.

Yeah.

I don't know.

And speaking of the future, Sam, what would you like to first of all, who would you like me to call a shithead today? I

one.

Yeah, that's a really good movie.

It's such a fun film.

I think it is one of the strongest examples of three tremendous actors at their absolute best.

Holly Hunter, Albert Brooks, William Hurt.

It's such a fun movie.

It's one of my favorites.

What would you like to promote, Sam?

So could you explain what a subscription trap is and what compliant cancellation around subscription traps would look like?

I too have been the victim of many subscription traps.

Everybody I know has been a victim of many subscription traps.

As you know, there are a lot of companies out there and their investors are telling them the way to generate a lot of revenue is to offer your product or service as a subscription.

And what these companies do is they make it really easy to sign up for subscriptions.

If you see an ad on Instagram, say for a meal prep plan, they're going to make it really easy for you to sign up.

Click once, you're there.

So could you just explain what consumers can expect their lives to feel like with this click to cancel rule implemented?

And

the first one I think is the easy one.

That's Sean Penn.

And then I'm going to say Tim Robbins and Damn you, Jeff.

All right, Kevin Bacon.

Why damn you, Jeff? Because he got the perfect number.

It's got to be those top two.

do our plugs at the end.

Right, right, yeah

... movie.

But they're like, "Look, it's a part of our, you know, world history.

You know, we..." Th- there is a definite sense of regret on the part of the, from the younger generation, on the part of the older generation that committed these atrocities, uh, against not just the Jews, but so many other countries and, and the world at large.

And I'm, I'm happy to say that based on my conversations, it seems like every young kid who grows up in Germany is, is taught a pretty fair version of how it all went down, and i- it is our responsibility to make sure nothing like that ever happens again.

And-

Yeah

... that is never addressed in the film, and the backstory they had created for that scar was that, uh, you know, A- Aldo Raine says he's, you know, he's an Appalachian boy, you know, direct descendant of the Mountain Man Jim Bridger.

And, uh, yeah, just a, such an e- engaging movie.

Yeah.

The jokes and the gags are so solid.

Uh, it's a great premise.

Melissa McCarthy getting, like, unbenched to go in and be essentially a James Bond spy.

Um, I don't know.

Every, every time I put it on, I'm like, "How is this not in every conversation about the best R-rated comedies?" 'Cause it's so goddamn funny.

Mm-hmm.

The Bride ... was more about the lady than the monster, but...

This one was great, and I watched it in chunks.

It's kinda long, so I did some laundry, came back to it, took a nap, came back to it.

I watched it in like six chunks.

[laughs]

But I know it put them on the map, and I know it was very well received, and it's what their career is based off of.

So sometimes I've learned with Rotten Tomatoes, an old movie, new reviews will still come in for it.

[laughs]

And for the lot of you who are like, "I don't know what those two words mean," uh, check it out.

I don't know where you can stream it.

I, I, uh, have the DVD, and, um, I recently re-watched it with, uh, my wife.

No, this is wild

...

the one I'm thinking of, there's no way it's on this list, 'cause it was just, it did not do well.

But Lions for Lambs was like a, uh, it was a, yeah, it was a prestige movie.

Whoa.

Uh, I have a 10-year-old nephew, and, uh, he's not seen the film.

And I was talking with his parents about him seeing it, and they were like, "Eh, soon.

He's, he's on the cusp of just being old enough to appreciate it, and, you know, there's some adult jokes in there." And, uh, and so I re-watched it on my own just to, so that I could warn, you know, if there was gonna be anything, uh, like that.

And I forgot how much I absolutely, positively adore that film.

And, uh-

[laughs]

...

It's also electronic shelf labels, even facial recognition, and here's some of what he said.

A number of major grocery chains, including Kroger and Walmart and others, have talked about using digital shelf labels.

I think Walmart's made big plans to implement these labels.

Um, some grocery chains have also talked about partnering with facial recognition companies, so they know which consumers are going through their aisles.

And here again, we could live in a world where a consumer is, uh, shopping online for a recipe.

The grocery store knows, 'cause maybe that consumer has the grocery store app, knows they need some certain products, knows there aren't competitors in the area that sell that same product, and gouge that consumer.

They take what they know and they turn it into leverage.

When companies are fighting restrictions on surveillance pricing, they'll say, "Oh, we just use surveillance pricing to give discounts." The reality is the holy grail for companies is charging consumers exactly what they're willing to pay and not a penny less, and that's not some wild conspiracy theory.

What do you got?

Um, so this is a film from the early, uh, 2000s, uh, and it stars a pal of mine who we just lost, uh, James Van Der Beek.

It's called The Rules of Attraction.

Uh, and, um, you know, it kinda flew a little bit under the radar, uh, when it opened, uh, but it's sorta since become kind of a cult classic.

And, you know, look, I don't know that it's, uh, you know, it's gonna make any, uh, top 100 movies of all time list, but it is an interesting watch.

And certainly for James as an actor, uh, you know, I thought it was the most unlikable character, uh, he's ever portrayed by a, a, a pretty significant margin.

And, um, I don't know.

[laughs]