The History of Concrete (2026) Movie Script

1
Hey.
The space between
projects is hard.
Time becomes unstructured.
You settle into some
of your worst habits
and every day's main
activity is just calculating
how many hours are left until
you're allowed to fall asleep.
You had a show on HBO
for a few years.
That's me.
That's nice, man.
Thanks, man.
And you weren't really
prepared for the level
of exposure that your
little movies got.
And they even suggested
that you were a celebrity
on Jeopardy.
Celebs, 1,000.
His HBO series teaches
viewers how to do things.
You were spoiled by
having a team of people
and a big budget
to do fun stuff
that takes a lot of planning.
- Is that better?
- Yeah, that's good.
But now that your
show is over
you have to do everything
by yourself again
and rebuild your whole
archive of street footage
from the bottom...
from the bottom up.
But the royalty checks
from your reruns
are getting smaller
and smaller every month
and you might need to get
money from elsewhere
if you wanna fund
a new production.
You've been getting requests
to make advertisements recently
from some of your
least favorite brands.
You even got an offer
to make a commercial
for Depend diapers,
and they wanted you to film
with the Naked Cowboy.
But unfortunately
that fell through
because he was in D.C.
on January 6th
and said some other bad stuff.
You had a hard time
believing that
because you guys
go way back
and now it seems like both
of you guys are outta work.
You wanna sing?
Someone sent
you an ad recently
that used an AI-generated
imitation of your voice
to sell gutters.
People can't believe
it when I tell them this.
I've worked in construction
for ten years now
and it shocks me how many
people pay a fortune
to upgrade their gutters
when there are services
like this nationwide service
that savings-conscious
homeowners
can't stop talking about.
It's scary to think
how good it's getting.
You used to think that
you were unique
but if anyone can
recreate a voice
then what value does
the original have?
You always wanted to take
the road less traveled
where nobody else would
ever dare to voyage.
But it's hard to stay motivated
when no one is telling
you what to do.
Sometimes the best
idea is to just
put the instrument
in your hands
and then you'll have no choice
but to make art with it.
The world is filled
with beautiful poetry
and maybe you just
need to find a way
to uncork your potential.
You're part of
the Writers Guild
and they went on strike over
the looming threat of AI
among other things.
But the only class they
offered members
during the strike was
how to write
and sell a Hallmark movie.
Thankfully, your afternoon
was wide open
uh, so you decided to just
go check it out.
Let's talk about the formula
and talk about what actually
makes a Hallmark rom-com
specifically a Hallmark
rom-com.
The core of this brand
is aspiration
and I cannot stress
that enough.
Escapism.
Hallmark movies
are pretty settings
even when they shouldn't
be pretty settings.
Love interests.
These have to be characters
that you want to be
and want to be with.
And it's inspirational.
Trauma is fine if it ends
on a high note,
if we've learned
from the trauma,
and that is because people
come to these movies
to escape their realities,
and a lot of those realities,
especially in this audience,
are financial.
They don't really
wanna see people
struggling financially
in these movies.
These movies are a balm.
They are the possibility
of what you could be.
Your leads should feel like
they are on the cusp
of an incredible life,
if only they could
figure this one thing out
that's holding them back.
You get bonus points
for dead relatives,
a gala or big party or town
event that needs planning.
Tradition.
They hate this so much.
They hate the almost
interrupted kiss so much.
They are so tired of it.
The big city girl comes home.
This one is truly outdated.
We're now in the throes
of burnout culture.
It's not cool
to be a girl boss anymore.
We have overcorrected
on this.
Um, this plot line gets a lot
of flak for being anti-feminist,
but it's not inherently
anti-feminist.
This is very serious.
There is no reference
to Jesus or Christianity
in any Christmas
Hallmark movie.
They will be shot in small
towns or mid-size cities
and more often than not,
in Canada.
These movies will
do better than HBO will
in terms of viewership.
Now is not the time
for Ken Burns or The Sopranos.
Now is the time to remember
that things have been
in the past and can get better.
A lot of the rules
seemed pretty strict
but it was a proven formula.
And if you could promise
that a new movie
of yours would get viewers,
then you'd probably
have an easier time
getting money to make it.
It seems like the love stories
in Hallmark movies
usually begin with two people
who have very little in common.
And the old clich that
opposites attract
gives people the
illusion that love
can help overcome any
personal or political conflict.
In the meantime, you tried
watching some Hallmark movies
to get some
character inspiration
and one of the ones you
watched was about a lady
that starts dating an
affordable housing developer
and brings him home to
her family for a
Christmas surprise.
The love interest has been
given orders from his boss
to vacate a property
before the New Year
so that they can build
a high-rise in the place
of a beloved community
candle shop.
But it turns out that
the person he's trying to evict
is actually his date's
sister-in-law
which leads to a bit
of tension as he
tries to coerce her
into selling.
You ever consider
pivoting to online only?
Face-to-face interaction
is the whole point, Brian.
After all, you cannot
smell a candle
over the internet, right?
Right.
The love interest
eventually feels bad,
and he tricks his boss
into coming over
to the family's house
for Christmas dinner
to propose something
more humane.
We will just find you
a temporary pop-up location
at one of our
commercial properties
and as soon as
the building is done
you will have the first
right of refusal
for the same square footage
of your current place
at the same price.
It's gonna increase
appeal across the board.
Well, it's definitely
good optics.
I like it.
I can make this work.
- Yeah?
- Yeah.
And once
everything is all tied up,
they finally kiss under the
watchful gaze
of Old Saint Nick.
It was ambitious to try
to fit a romance
inside of a topic as unromantic
as affordable housing.
Real estate developers
usually aren't
the romantic leads in movies
because they're
often portrayed
as heartless opportunists,
desperately trying
to augment a neighborhood
that they don't understand
the complexity of.
But they have tried to remain
hip despite their reputation.
You went on the Hallmark Reddit
to see how the fans felt,
and you found them
explaining the concept
of a NIMBY to one another.
A NIMBY will traditionally
reject efforts
to build affordable housing
in their neighborhood
and suggest that it should
be built someplace else
far away.
But it seems like they're
already building
a lot around New York
and you're occasionally
completely surrounded
on all sides by cement trucks
when traveling.
But for some reason,
most of these houses
aren't affordable
and you can't even be certain
that most of them
are actually even occupied.
And you wish you knew
what was really going on
in some of these places.
In a stroke of luck, you were
able to buy your building
from your landlord when
she moved away a few years ago,
and now you rent out
the apartments below
to good friends
that you've known for a while.
The first floor is occupied
by a couple with a baby
and you charge them
$1,700 a month for rent.
Thankfully, you live upstairs,
so you're able
to fix any problems that
come up almost immediately.
This putty
has been here for a long time,
and then Sesame peed on it,
and this started happening.
Your good friend Nellie
lives in the basement apartment
and she pays you $600 a month
for rent for the entire unit.
But the foundation
to your house is cracked
and it makes it so there's
a leak into your basement
whenever it rains
really, really hard
causing intermittent
flooding during the spring
and the fall.
You never felt so helpless
to stop bad things
from happening
to your friends.
But it seems like
this is happening to a lot
of other property all over
the city, like your gym.
Which is making
people really upset
because the city doesn't seem
to acknowledge the problem.
You tried to fix
the crack yourself
by just getting a bag
from Home Depot
and fixing it up like
a good boy should.
But not only did that
not solve the problem
when you called your neighbor
to get some advice
he criticized your
craftsmanship without realizing
that you were
the one that did it.
Yeah, is that a bad job?
Yeah, it's terrible.
Because you're not, I mean
you're not like, you know...
If you're gonna do this
you gotta do it with like
hydraulic cement
not like gravel mix
or whatever the fuck this is.
Oh, okay.
- So I mean...
- Yeah, I don't think
that they knew
what was going on.
Yeah.
It's embarrassing to know
so little about
something that occupies so much
of your visual environment.
So you got a couple great
books on the subject
and got your new movie
underway.
But you've never tried
to finance something yourself
and you realized you
needed a little help.
So you called up a few good
friends that worked with you
on your show and set up
a call with your agency
to try to secure financing.
You know, you want
a reason why this subject matter
for you is a feature-length film
and the places you wanna go.
I mean, I think you
could sort of...
We can all sell
that a little bit to, you know
justify the budget ask.
And tell us about
the sizzle you have in mind.
You know, are you...
Did you have a sense of how
you wanna put that together
as sort of a sales tape?
Um... I have,
it's about two and a half,
three minutes right now.
What's the working title again?
The History of Concrete.
Okay.
Aside from water
concrete is the second most
used material on the planet.
People often think cement
and concrete are the same thing
but this couldn't be
further from the truth.
So cement is the gray powder
that's produced in a kiln.
Concrete is a mixture of cement,
water, sand, and stone
uh, and we mix all that
together to make concrete.
Here you can see all
the coarse aggregate
the big stone pieces
and then the cement
paste matrix around it.
Wow, it looks like a...
It looks like a fruit cake.
Yeah, a little bit.
What we're standing
in front of right now
is what's known
as a universal testing machine.
It's used to test
both compression
and tensile strength.
You ever put
anything fun in there?
Um...
This is very
satisfying cranberry jelly.
So, you know, we have
a little bit of fun in here.
Cool, yeah, I try to...
Yeah, I'm trying to have
a little fun, too.
Wow.
One of the first
applications of concrete
was in ancient Rome
and a lot of it is
still standing today.
It's rumored that
the first concrete
had self-healing properties
because of the stuff
that they used to make it with.
But unfortunately, the locals
seem to be pretty tight-lipped
about their secret formula.
Yeah, yeah, the material.
Like concrete,
it's made of concrete?
- No.
- No? Okay.
Do you know anything
about the concrete
of the building?
- Il cemento?
- Yeah, cemento?
Can you repeat in English,
please?
Oh, I heard that this
was early Roman concrete.
Yeah, it's Pantheon.
- Oh, yeah, yeah.
- It's the Pantheon, this one.
I was wondering
why it lasted so long.
Ah.
It's video?
- Uh...
- No, no.
I'm making a
movie about concrete.
- Concrete?
- Yeah.
- No.
- Like, I'm making a movie
about concrete.
- I'm sorry.
- A cinema of concrete.
- No, thanks.
- Okay.
Rome looks very similar
to the way it used to
because it was built by
craftspeople with material
that lasts a long time.
And at one point they
decided to leave it
at this exact level
of fucked up.
They even sacrificed
valuable seating space
inside the McDonald's to
preserve a bunch of old rocks.
There's also a wax museum
in Rome where they preserve
some of our most beloved
historical figures
and they even have a feature
where you can watch a video
of them speaking
with what seems to be
an AI-generated mouth.
I am Jack Nicholson,
born in 1937 in Neptune
City, New Jersey, USA.
Known for intense roles
in films like
One Flew Over the
Cuckoo's Nest
The Shining
of Hollywood's most
respected actors.
I'm Anthony Hopkins, born
in 1937 in Port Talbot, Wales.
It's always interesting
at what point in time
historians decide to freeze
the memory of something
and who gets to decide
which time period
is better than another.
I am Elvis Prezzle
born in 1935 in Tupelo,
Mississippi, USA.
Known as
"The King of Rock 'n' Roll"
I revolutionized popular music
with songs like "Jailhouse Rock"
and "Hound Dog."
You unfortunately
ended up blowing
a 100 percent
of your film's budget
on your trip to Rome
and even though you were
getting some really cool stuff
your agent was getting harder
and harder to get a hold of.
So, you flew back to New York
and tried to get some
advice on how to fundraise
from a local Italian.
What kind of advice
would you give to someone
who's struggling
to get something financed?
To try to make it
as inexpensive as they can
and to make, you know,
and to get it done.
Do you ever
think about concrete?
No, no.
And you just brought it up,
and it made me think
of it, you know?
Um, how is the concrete
outside here?
Oh, it's pretty nice.
It's pretty
solid.
That ain't goin' anywhere.
Each square of sidewalk
is usually five feet
by five feet.
You're not allowed to put
a fridge on the sidewalk
without taking its doors
off or securing them
so children don't hide
inside and have so much fun.
It seems like money can't
touch the sidewalk either
which is why all the ATMs
in New York are just hovering
right above the street outside.
But mailboxes can be on
the sidewalk no problem.
A sidewalk is usually
poured by a contractor
employed by
the local municipality
and they do everything
they can to keep it smooth.
But after
the city pours it
the property owners are
responsible for maintaining it
which is why the repairs
are often imperfect
and patchwork across the city
just doing the bare minimum
to cover up any mistakes
leading to unforeseen hazards
that might emerge from
bad craftsmanship.
People will also add rogue
mounds to preexisting stuff
in order to optimize
their environment
because concrete
is a continuous surface
that can be added to
or subtracted from
without much attention paid.
Every now and then
as it's drying
a vandal will appear
and try to make their mark.
It is often a name,
a declaration of love
or a common phrase
that everybody knows.
This is a huge diss
to property owners
but one can understand
the temptation
to defile something
so flat, so level.
So when it's drying
there's usually always
a local guy watching it
because you know the cops
won't do anything about it.
Someone even put a compass
in the middle
of Queens Boulevard
claiming that
it's the geographical
center of New York City.
This is not even close
to being true
but nobody seems to care.
Because nature can
be hard to maintain
people cover up
entire tree plots
making it nearly impossible
for the plant to get water.
And they also fill in
any other voids
that happen to be nearby.
This also makes flooding worse
because the stormwater can no
longer drain into the earth.
Gum is like the bird
shit of people.
Wherever people congregate,
there is gum.
The highest concentration
of gum deposits
are at transition points
for some reason
like a subway entrance
or the front of a deli.
You always thought that
people spit out their gum
when the flavor was gone,
but that doesn't explain
why so many people toss it
out at the exact same moment
before they enter a new space.
At drive-thrus,
you notice that the driver
usually spits out their
gum as they're ordering
while the passenger waits
to spit out their gum
until the last possible
second at the pickup window
where a new flavor
is presented to them.
But nobody knows more about
this stuff than the only guy
in the city that
gets rid of it.
People spit out their
gum no matter what.
They don't care where they are.
But have you ever actually
seen anyone spit out their gum?
No.
So what we do is we come
and we vaporize that gum
and I'll show you later
in the segment how we do that.
The segment?
The segment...
Do you think this problem
will ever go away?
I don't think chewing gum
is ever going to go away.
Keep an eye on Mars stocks
because if chewing
gum goes away
the stock on Mars
and a few other companies
will take a big dip.
Oh, Mars like
the candy company.
Correct.
Right. There is no stock
on the planet.
Ah, here,
so this is Gum Buster wine.
- Wow.
- And we private label this wine
for our good customers
for Christmas, Hanukkah,
during the holidays.
It's actually very good wine.
- Yeah?
- And when I hand it out
I say, "It's great wine.
It doesn't taste
like chewing gum."
And people smile
and thank me for the wine.
Lotta gum here.
- Great spot, right?
- Yeah.
Right in front
of Mr. Happy Deli.
These are the tubes
and this is the famous
brass brush.
So we're gonna just pop
that in. Pop this in.
Here goes. Ready?
And that gum is busted.
That gum is busted.
You wanna try?
- Me?
- Yeah.
Where did the gum go?
It's busted.
Whose car is that?
Is that your car?
- No.
- John:
Why do people chew gum?
I think to stop cigarette
smoking.
Probably.
You landed a few pitch meetings
but the material you had so far
wasn't really exciting anybody
and they doubted your ability
to turn it into a feature film.
Getting it to
a certain place in development
and it sounds like you
guys are just ready to go
so development isn't
really something
that you're interested in.
And the couple people
that were helping you out
would only get paid
if the movie got sold somehow.
And the guilt you feel
for asking friends
for such a huge
favor is so heavy
that it makes it nearly
impossible to function
the way that you're used to.
But when you look
around New York
it seems like there
are movies getting financed
but only if they take you
to a different time and place.
And you could feel
the industry laughing at you
for not having
a script or a plot
or actors in funny costumes.
It's comforting to watch
nostalgic visions
of a city that no longer exists
but it seems like we
often spend more money
recreating the stuff
that we miss
than actually trying
to preserve
what's currently disappearing.
Most Hallmark movies are set
in fictional environments
that viewers fantasize
about inhabiting one day.
But this is where Hallmark
movies are actually filmed.
On a sound stage in the middle
of an industrial park
right over the U.S.
border in Canada.
Hallmark employee:
The hallways are lined
with posters of productions
that were filmed here
over the years.
A lot of them
are Christmas but...
it seems like they're expanding
to other holidays, too.
Supposedly a turkey drop
is when you break up
with your boyfriend during
Thanksgiving break from school.
The team in there was
between productions
but thankfully
the assistant director
uh, had a moment
to speak with you.
If you kind of look up
and down this whole hallway
almost all of this signage
is used in Hallmarks
or thrillers.
I've worked on at least two
where the holiday
hunk is a widow
and learning to love
again is part of his arc.
Are you making a big tree?
- Yeah.
- Wow. Cool.
Hallmark is interesting.
They're the only cable
network that it continues
to grow in viewership
whereas the rest of cable
is kind of dying.
What we do is we tell the same
story over and over and over.
It's like a rinse, repeat.
We, all of us in this building
just continue to tell
the same boy-meets-girl story.
- In a cycle.
- Over and over.
There's a race
in New York where runners
circle the same block
in Jamaica, Queens
for 3,100 miles and it lasts
for 52 days straight.
They run from 6 a.m.
to midnight every single day
and sleep in camper vans
nearby.
Ladies and gentlemen,
welcome to the 28th edition
of The Sri Chinmoy
Self-Transcendence
3100 Mile Race.
This year we have 12 runners
from 11 different countries
to try and go to 5,000
laps beyond beyond.
Before the race,
they have a moment of silence
to honor the late Sri Chinmoy,
the spiritualist who came up
with this idea to begin with.
Three, two, one. Go!
They have an army
of disciples
that record every single lap
and a chef producing a constant
supply of homemade food.
They even mark all
of the parts of the sidewalk
that are damaged or uneven
with bright yellow tape.
Even the smallest patch job.
This is mostly all you
see for 52 days
and they even have
a chorus to cheer them on.
There's a belief here
that if you spend enough time
on this material,
you will achieve
some sort of
self-transcendence.
But it's still unclear
why concrete
was the preferred surface.
What do you think of it?
Well, running is good,
it's a good exercise
but I wanna know
if they're getting paid.
I don't think
they're getting paid.
The question I would like to ask
how would they pay their rent?
How would they eat?
You know, you gotta pay
rent in America, you know
and if you have a house,
you gotta pay mortgage.
So how would they survive?
There gotta be some
benefit up there.
Let's go over there and
find out.
Maybe it's spiritual?
It could be spiritual,
but again, like he says
you're out here from 6
in the morning to 12 midnight
so in between, there is no in
between for work, you know?
Do you ever think
there's too much
concrete in the city?
No! No.
I think there's
a lot of buildings,
I tell you that much.
- No.
- A lot of high-rises.
We got too many people
here, that's what happened.
Mm-hmm. A lotta people.
You could
understand being suspicious
of someone without
a job walking in circles
around a high school
for two months.
But it must be nice
to have a spiritual leader
to tell you what to do
because otherwise you'd
just have to figure out
how to fill the days
by yourself.
And its hard not
to get discouraged
when you're trying
out something new.
The oldest
concrete street in America
is actually in Ohio.
It was built in 1891
which means that throughout
almost all of human history
there has not been
any concrete
up until about a 100 years ago.
Well, the street was built
in 1891, 1893.
Uh, about 60% of it is still
the original concrete.
George Bartholomew,
who the statue is behind me
he came up with a formula
that he thought could hold up
to horse-and-buggy traffic.
A few years ago we added
the arch 'cause again
this is a tourist attraction
but we're also
proud of the history.
Despite the pride
they feel
the concrete
was in terrible shape.
It seems like it had been
patched up a lot over the years
and it looks more like
a monument to how poorly
this material holds up
than anything else.
There's even a driving school
that uses the oldest concrete
street as a training ground.
1891, first
concrete street in America.
It needs to be redone.
Yeah, it doesn't
look too good.
- Mm-mm, yeah, all these shops--
- What's on this street?
- and stuff are here.
- There's a Bigfoot
on the street.
Bellefontaine
is growing by leaps and bounds.
- Oh, really?
- They're putting
a whole new subdivision
of nice homes
in there and everything.
Okay, just before you get
to the railroad track
you're gonna turn to the right
and that is the shortest
street in America.
It's the highest
point in Ohio.
- Yes.
- Oh, really?
That's the highest
point in Ohio?
- Yes.
- Yes, it is.
I can't believe it.
I got a steering wheel.
I got a little old fake
battery here.
How to hook up your battery
if you're jumping somebody off.
- Oh...
- All that kind of stuff.
And then this is basically,
right here
is where we do
most of our training.
Teenagers represent
10% of the U.S. population
but account for 14%
of traffic deaths.
Blah, blah, blah, right?
Yeah. It's tough.
I'm kinda immune to it
'cause I see it every month.
On top of the videos
they even have people
come to the class
to talk about the dangers
of highway traffic.
My husband, Frank
got in a really serious
motorcycle accident.
He was on his way
to a friend's shop
and a car crossed
the center line
and he was at the exact spot
where this car did that
and hit him head on.
Was he a musician?
He was, yes.
That tattoo,
it was on his left calf.
It's his skin.
And if you look close,
you can see like pores.
It looks like it's like
skin ripping open.
You could see the inside
and it's like bionic
Terminator kind of thing.
You know, it's just nice
because you get
this literal piece
of this person.
It's just really
an awesome gift.
So my name's Kyle Sherwood.
I am one of the founders of
the company Save My Ink Forever
that specializes in preserving
your loved one's tattoos
after you pass away.
Every single piece has its own
unique story attached to it,
and it's just kind of fun
to share the stories
of the tattoos.
Did you get
into this business
from the funeral industry
or the tattoo industry?
So it was a combination
of my love for art
my love for tattoos,
as well as kind of recognizing
the trends
in the funeral industry.
Wow.
So what you're
looking at here
is we have the back
piece and the arms.
We have two leg pieces here.
So what part
of the body was this tattoo on?
I believe it was part
of a forearm.
Where was this
little devil from?
You know,
that I do not know.
This guy here,
he is the original...
- Senior senior?
- Yes.
He was known as "Mean Gene
the Embalming Machine."
This is "Mean Gene
the Embalming Machine?"
"Mean Gene
the Embalming Machine." That--
He doesn't look too mean.
No, he's not.
It's just I think one of those
things where it rhymed.
He actually embalmed
Chef Boyardee.
Chef Boyardee
was a real guy?
Yeah, so my granddad
got to embalm him.
Wait,
where is Chef Boyardee buried?
He might be at Lakeview,
hold on.
Hey.
Do you know where
Chef Boyardee's buried?
Are there any
tattoos you won't preserve?
Who's got the most
famous tattoo
the most simplistic
tattoo on the planet
but if you see it,
everybody knows it?
- Charles Manson.
- There you go.
Right there.
Whoa. Wait,
someone asked you
to preserve Charles
Manson's tattoo?
- We were talking about--
- In a roundabout way.
We were at a tattoo convention.
But that also puts you
in an interesting position
because, again,
the historical significance
of the tattoo itself.
However, what the tattoo
is that you would be preserving
- is obviously a tough thing.
- Charles Manson.
Maybe preserving
things is more complicated
than it seems, and what
exactly should be preserved
is always a subjective
decision.
There was a patch of dirt under
a fire hydrant in Bed-Stuy
that the locals decided
to turn into an aquarium
for everyone to enjoy.
We did something--
we took something
from nothing into something
to improve where we live at.
But then one day,
the city came in
and filled the hole
with concrete.
And people wore black
clothing to grieve the loss
of the fish that died
in the process.
There's a garden in SoHo
that was under threat
of eviction recently
because the city
wanted the land
to build affordable
housing for seniors.
And despite the good
intentions of the proposal
people still showed
up to protest
and speed preserve the garden
using whatever materials
they had.
We're in an
intense time for the garden.
We're gonna do everything
that we can
to the last moment.
Save the garden.
Save the garden!
And there's another
green space in Brooklyn
that Tony Hawk has been trying
to turn into a skate
park for years
which caused people
to protest outside of an event
that he was having
with Rodney Mullen.
You can't come into a
community, and you know
do your white boy thing,
and you know, pave it over
and good luck with us
and you hope us the best.
I hope him the best because I
hope he hopes the best for me.
Skate parks have these half
shells, which is like a pipe
I guess they call
it a half-pipe.
And I guess that's made out
of ceramic tiles, perhaps.
- No, no, no.
- Or maybe it's made
out of concrete.
I don't know what
it's made out of.
Our son is a skateboarder.
We are for the park
but not pouring 40,000
square feet of cement
over our little green park,
which is not very big.
You know, there are a lot
of other places in Brooklyn
where you could do that.
The protestors
were very passionate
but it seems like this
issue could not be further
from any of the skaters' minds.
Like, do you ever think
there's too much
concrete in the city?
I mean, I don't really think
about the concrete like that.
You live in a
historically
designated neighborhood
which is why
all the street signs are brown.
Recently they tore up
most of the sidewalk
outside your apartment
to install a new gas line.
But when they poured
all the new stuff
they accidentally used
white concrete
which isn't
historically accurate.
So they had to come
back a week later
to tear it all up again and
replace it with gray concrete.
And even though your block
looks more accurate now
the entire charade just felt
like a huge waste of material.
A summer ago we had what
they called a cement shortage.
They couldn't make enough
cement fast enough--
- Nationwide.
- as it was being used up.
- Really?
- Yes.
You might get some
concrete one day
and then you might not
be able to get it
for four or five days.
And this was not
just in our area
this was all over the place.
This was all over
the United States.
They were shipping
a lot of cement overseas
and China I think
got a lot of it.
It seems like the older
concrete is stronger
than the new concrete,
I will say that.
Yeah. Right.
What do you think
contributes to that?
I think they used more cement
back when stuff
used to be cheaper.
I think they would
put more cement per.
And then it was also
handmade a lot of times.
Like, stuff that we
tear out that was poured
in like the '60s and
'50s was stronger.
I look at it like this.
They don't want that car
to last 50 years.
They want it to wear
out and redo it.
It's just the way
that things are.
They wanna keep things
going and building
and keep things in
a circle, you know?
I don't know of anything that
lasts forever, do you?
Maybe a tombstone.
That's it.
Easy money is what we say.
There you go.
Now we just gotta
pull the forms.
This looks stupendous.
Now will you sell
this to somebody
this presentation to somebody?
- We're gonna try to.
- Yeah.
But...uh...
It's kinda hard to get
people excited
about concrete, I'm finding.
- Is it?
- Yeah.
Well people don't realize...
We'd be up a creek
without concrete.
It's used for everything.
Can you think of anybody
that would wanna buy
a movie about concrete?
Well, maybe your big time
concrete suppliers?
Every June, the entire
concrete industry reunites
for a handful of different
conventions to network
and talk about new
innovations in the industry.
They even hold
competitions with big prizes
and contestants that fly
in from all over the globe.
You're gonna
catch 'em layin' brick!
Good luck, Team Australia!
G'day, mate!
Thank you, appreciate it.
You guys have fun out there.
Enjoy it.
May I draw
your attention
to the far end of the arena
where our main stage is?
Our beautiful
Chevy Silverado truck.
Let's start things off
as we bring in
the Nellis Air Force
Color Guard.
Colors.
Halt!
Wow!
We'll put 60 minutes
on the jumbotron.
The question will be
answered in about an hour
as to who is the world's
best bricklayer.
These guys are awesome.
Let's go, Johnny! Move it!
Why didn't I
bring a camera up here?
Bring me that camera.
This is an absolutely
incredible shot.
Count it down with me,
everybody in the audience.
Ten, nine, eight, seven
six, five, four, three,
two, one...
Trowels down! Let's give a--
Wow.
What a finish.
What the fuck?
And in just a few minutes
we're gonna get the junior
bricklayer underway.
I will introduce our teams
and see who's gonna drop
$500 into their pockets.
Don't go anywhere.
Let's check out the walls
and see how they're doing.
Cool.
There's also competitions
for students
to see who can
make the best stuff
with materials
from their home country.
And if their sand
is too dense
they need to take it
out into the hallway
and remove all the moisture
with a hairdryer
that they bought at Walgreens.
Our sand is too wet.
- So now we're-
- John: Oh, really?
Yeah.
They also have
a special event
devoted to the women
of concrete.
Good evening, Women in ACI.
This is our 30th
anniversary of Women in ACI.
And we have a step
and repeat in the corner
for those who would
like to take advantage
and get a picture,
and ACI is not only a place
where we come
to do good work
but we also come for fun.
They have a silent
auction
where you can bid
on really cool stuff.
And it seems like
the concrete industry
has finally caught up
with the "Me Too" movement.
They even have a seminar
on the logistical problems
of how to produce concrete
on the moon one day.
We have a project at
Marshall Space Flight Center
called MMPACT, it's Moon-to-Mars
Planetary Autonomous
Construction Technology.
It's a mouthful,
but the goal is to develop lunar
and Martian surface
infrastructure
using in situ materials.
As many of you know
it costs just over
a million dollars per kilogram
to put materials
on the lunar surface.
It's not enough just to build
a big empty concrete shell
and be able to pressurize it.
You have to be able
to live in it.
So you need furniture and knives
and forks and switch plates
and, you know, walk
through your house.
Anything you have
in your house
you're gonna need some
kind of equivalent
on the lunar surface.
It's gonna be 50 years
before we ever
go to Mars from the moon.
We need that water
for construction now.
We need it for oxygen,
for life support
binders for some
of our lunar concretes.
We need to learn how
to live on the moon
before we go all
the way to Mars.
The moon is the satellite
you cannot destroy.
So, this is all gonna be
part of the second Cold War
because it will help us
put a base on the moon
and beat the Chinese to the moon
or the Chinese-Russian
consortium to the moon.
You walked
around the convention
and you saw a lot of vendors
trying to offer alternatives
to the original formula
because it seems to be widely
understood in the industry
that the carbon emissions
from cement production
are the third biggest
contributor to global warming.
One of the ideas
was even to use human urine
to make concrete in space
because water up there
will be so scarce.
But the industry seems
reluctant to fully adopt
any of these ideas,
because once you're used
to something
it becomes kind of hard
to change your lifestyle
without external pressure.
The most popular booth...
...was the 3D-printed
concrete demonstration
which seems to be where the
industry is heading fast.
One could picture a future
with a whole new species
of autonomous
construction robots
constantly modifying our
environment in the background
while the rest of us just
lurk for artificial romance.
You have never once questioned
this material before
but everything you
learned so far
made you feel like we
were in danger somehow.
But everyone here just seemed
to be in a state of bliss
enjoying the lifestyle
that the concrete business
provides for them.
When you left one
of the conventions
you took a look at the contract
that you signed with them
and the fine print
said that you agreed
to not portray concrete
in a negative light.
You're still not sure
what that means
but you're not lovin' it.
Because without something
to criticize
a documentarian is powerless
and it's taking every ounce of
strength you have to continue.
Someone at the convention
told you
that the first Starbucks
made of 3D-printed concrete
was in Texas, but you didn't
really wanna go there
so you paid a local
videographer
to film it in your style
which for some reason consisted
mostly of drone photography.
There's a good chance
most buildings will end up
looking like this in the future
if the concrete industry
has its way
and you're afraid
if we're not careful
most documentaries will
look like this, too.
Back in Queens, the first
person dropped out of the race
after running 2,000 miles
because the terrain
was too punishing.
On nice open black road,
you can just run for, you know
you can run in a really
smooth, pain-free way.
Concrete is,
it's a different surface.
This came as a surprise to me.
There's just not the--
I think it's the energy
return and the give.
It's a really unforgiving,
a very unforgiving surface.
I'm, um-- Even now as a lover
of hard surfaces
I'm really a bit shocked
by how brutal
this ended up being
on my left foot.
The entire race
is positioned around a tree
that their guru planted
on the lawn
of a high school decades ago
which provides shade
for all the students'
after-school military programs.
- Alpha Company!
- Platoon!
Attention!
Present arms!
Company
Commander, knock out a pushup.
Tell me why.
We covered it. Why?
You were at
a concert recently
but you were too far in
the back to see anything
and you ended up breaking
your beer glass
all over the ground.
And miraculously the guy
who helped you clean it up
told you that he actually
worked in sales
for a concrete company
and he agreed to meet up
with you a couple days later.
- Wow.
- Yeah, I sell concrete.
It's pretty cutthroat because
it's so relationship-based.
Do you do any work
outside of the concrete
industry?
Uh, I act.
Everything now, especially
for an actor, is a self-tape.
So you can't even go in
and be personal with someone
and show 'em what
you've got.
You just have to kind
of film yourself, send it out
and then thousands
of other people do it
and you're just
in a deck of other people.
Are you working
on any projects right now?
Yeah, I'm doing a short
film called The Last Guest.
Yeah, so now we're gonna,
I think we're ready to block.
Are you mic'd up?
- No. Where's Jordan?
- Jesus.
So what is this about?
This guy is like renting
his apartment like illegally
and his landlord doesn't
know basically
through, we'll call it "Airbnb"
but we're trying to not
mention it.
Was this movie
inspired at all
by the housing crisis?
Not, well, I don't know.
Oh wait, what is that?
Oh, it's a Photoshop
of the two actors.
Yeah, they graduated
from realtor's school.
We also created
this magazine, too.
It's about realtors' minds.
- Oh, really?
- Yeah.
All of this has to fly
to the next room.
I need this whole room cleared.
Oh yeah.
Sure, you got it.
- Do you do this a lot?
- DP:
Okay.
- Are you doing sound?
- Yes, I am.
I'm looking around the space.
I'm gonna have to move around.
You'll say
the lines and you come.
Hey, they left
you some chicken!
You see the bathroom?
Reset. Reset.
Leave it there. Don't take
it out from the fridge.
- Okay.
- Let's try one opening
from the top
and the next one from here.
Hey, they left you
some chicken!
Hey, they left you
some chicken!
Hey! They left you
some chicken!
What are you
drinking there?
Vodka Red Bull.
Just vodka
and Red Bull.
We can't do that. You can't
bring the cops into it.
If you're really my friend
we're not bringing
the cops into it, okay?
Why not?
Because I'm gonna
lose everything.
My job, my apartment
everything I've worked
so hard for!
Oh my God.
"Oh, they left
you some chicken," you know?
You look like Ari Aster.
- Ari Aster?
- Yeah. You look like him.
Don't you think he looks
like Ari Aster a bit?
Oh, yeah.
That's fucking you, dude.
- That's me?
- That's you.
Okay, yeah.
Same style. See what I mean?
Has it become
more difficult
to get like funding
for passion projects?
Yeah, I think like,
it's always difficult
to get like funding.
Like, this is like,
I'm funding it
out of my own pocket,
basically.
It's just like, just like
us, you know,
like finding people that
wanna collaborate and all.
It's not like, you know,
a Hollywood film.
It's just more like a--
let's call it like
I don't know, like independent,
you know?
Where's it gonna be?
Well, my hope at the
beginning, you know
I was thinking just to do
it for myself, you know
to show it to friends and all
but then like, I don't know
people started liking
the script and all
and then they were like,
"Maybe you can put it like
you know, in like festivals
and stuff like that,"
so maybe that's a goal.
Depending on how, you
know, we end up doing this.
So far, it's cool.
Yeah, so far it's looking great.
Maybe it's nice
to make something
even if you don't know
what it's for.
And the simple act
of making art
is the thing that
gives you purpose.
Los Angeles might have the most
pornographic relationship
with concrete.
They constantly have
celebrities penetrate it
to cement their legacy
for future generations to see.
But anything over 60 years
old is covered in cracks
and will probably need
to be replaced eventually.
There's something
impossible to describe
about the experience
of being on the sidewalk here.
There's just a constant stream
of automobiles
in every direction.
Thousands of eyes looking
directly at you
just hungry for something
to stare at.
They can look at you
but you're not supposed
to look at them.
In New York City, drivers
are a punished class
but in Los Angeles,
the pedestrian is the fool.
A lot of people here end up
taking cabs
where the passengers
are always offered
wisdom by the drivers.
There's always cats
and dogs who needs love
and who needs a home
and needs to be loved.
Well, the mob companies
used to run construction,
concrete companies.
- That's true.
- Think about that.
- Instead of concrete,
they're using...
uh left over...
I wanna say peanut shells
or something like that, weird.
Oh, really?
To subsidize the strength
of like, you know, concrete.
So I made this for my car.
Oh my God,
this is your car?
I glued this
- and I made like a little-
- John: Wow, so this is concrete
- on your car?
- Yeah.
- So this design, too.
- Oh my God.
The various functions
at different venues in L.A.
fuel the economy,
and it's hard to know
how to entertain yourself
here as an outsider
unless you're invited to one.
They usually have them
at fancy hotels
like the Chateau Marmont
where the penthouse
looks directly
onto the most well-lit
billboard you've ever seen.
At this particular event
Kim Kardashian was being
named as GQ's Man of the Year
and you were invited
for some strange reason.
I already said like
quite a bit about Tom Ford
in the magazine,
and he said quite a bit back
but I was thinking about what
I could say about him tonight.
And I just thought, oh,
one thing that I didn't get to
in the piece was that I think
Tom has this unique ability
to combine sex and money.
Like, sex that's just
sex is kind of boring
and money, like, money's
the most boring thing on Earth.
Not really.
- Really?
- Not really.
We're gonna hash
this out afterwards.
But all jokes aside
I think all of us at this table
there's a lot of things
that we admire about you
and the first thing that comes
to mind would be family.
I don't know if anybody
have been on the other side
of the wrath of fuckin'
with Kim's family
but she don't play around.
So I just want everybody
to grab their glass,
whatever they have
in front of them.
We're gonna toast to someone
who is living at the same time
that we all are,
but is living in her purpose.
The philosopher
Guy Debord once said
that when enough capital
accumulates
it will eventually just
become an image.
You went
to the Emmys recently
because you were
nominated for something.
A lot of the Emmys ended
up going to the Oscars
which can't happen the other
way around for some reason.
And when you lost your category
you were staring
directly at Lucy Liu.
But one of the big
winners of the night
was a documentary
about Billy Joel.
And it seems like
music documentaries
were really lucrative
for the studios right now.
You got a call from your agent
that you finally got an offer
for someone to finance
your documentary
but it seems like they might
have gotten the same memo.
The contract stated that
the deal would only go through
if your movie
included a musician
of "elevated visibility,
relevance, and notoriety."
During the pitch you joked
about this being a rockumentary
but unfortunately they
took you seriously
and now it's your
only available option
to finish your movie.
Most rockumentaries
rely on cliches
about the unlikely rise
of a struggling musician.
And then at the height
of their career
something tragic
usually happens.
One of the better ones
you saw recently
was the one about DMX.
It followed him after
his release from prison
as he was trying
to rebuild his life.
And the only way he could
secure future album deals
would be if he made
a Christmas album
for the record company.
But sadly, he passed away
before he was able to finish
his Christmas album.
If you were to make
a rockumentary
you would wanna follow
someone
at the beginning
of their career
but it's getting harder
and harder
to discover emerging
talent in New York City.
You used to go see
a lot of shows
shows at non-commercial venues
because that's just
the kind of guy you are.
But a lot of these spaces
are designed to be temporary
and usually only exist
until the landlord wants
to use the property
for something more lucrative.
And now some of the only
places that are left
to see smaller shows
are skinny apartments
that a bunch of people live in
that also double as a venue.
How's that can staying up there?
Somebody put that
there like two years ago
and it never fell,
and I never touched it once.
- It's really--
- I was like, it's impressive
that it's never, like,
fallen on my head or anything.
It just stayed there.
That's crazy.
And sometimes
the basements musicians perform
in are so hot
that people pass out
before the show even begins.
Or to beat the heat,
they often just play outside
with generators until
someone comes to stop them.
The place that you used
to live in has concerts, too.
It was originally
a tombstone factory
that got turned into
residential units
but the landlords did such
a bad job converting it
that when the fire department
finally inspected the property,
they found fake sprinklers
and a bunch of
other code violations.
I used to have, you could put
an air conditioner in there.
So, the city shut off the heat
and hot water indefinitely.
And now everyone that lives
there has been on rent strike
ever since you moved out.
I mean,
Simpsons is like fully cemented
- in my brain.
- Yeah, me too, man.
That's like what I grew up with.
SpongeBob was like I caught
it when I could, you know?
SpongeBob was a-
You're still technically
the only person on the lease
and the landlords have been
sending you invoices
every month
for the past seven years.
And the current grand
total rivals the cost
of a private island.
Unfortunately,
the financiers didn't really
approve of any of the musicians
you filmed with
because it wouldn't
get enough viewers
to make their investment
worth it.
But maybe you don't
need anybody else
because all your friends
are right here.
Josh.
Andr.
Mr. Boston.
And Aliz.
You want some Silver?
Yeah, sure.
Really?
Oh, what kind of band?
- Really?
- Sure.
My name is Jack Macco.
I'm a guitar player and singer
and the name
of the band is called Nebulus.
Cool.
Never forget why you're
doin' it, because you love it.
That feeling that you
get from playing a gig
even if it's terrible,
it's one of the greatest
feelings of magic in reality.
And never lose that.
And it doesn't matter how
many clicks you get online
or anything like that.
There's a million people online
who get like half
a million clicks
and they can't perform for shit.
- Yeah.
- Be a great performer.
Be a high skill level.
You wanna join us? Um...
Film our performance
next week?
I'm... What time,
what day next week?
Gotta have the key.
To what?
Ah. Set list.
Hey!
- Hello, man.
- Thanks for having us.
This is a song,
hopefully you know it.
The state of music is fine
the state of operating it
for capital is in question.
Everybody wants to see
a cover band, you know
so trying to make a stand
in the original part of this
the creativity hasn't
been stifled
only the ability for guys
to, you know
make a dollar out of it.
We're gonna do "Addicted"
right now, an original song.
All right,
that was an original song.
I think that's all we got.
We got another band
coming on after us.
No, you don't.
- We don't?
- No.
Oh.
I said, that was pretty
good for no rehearsal.
- Yeah, you guys ripped.
- Right?
Hold on,
I gotta get to the--
Thanks so much
everybody for coming out
and happy new year.
When I was a kid,
I did a lot of original music.
We were the original
Chainsmokers.
And yeah, so they stole
the name of our band
and they went on,
but we were-
- Wait, really?
- Yeah.
We were doing all original
songs at the time, and yeah.
And the name of your
band was The Chainsmokers?
Chainsmokers. Yep, yep.
- How do you know that th-
- So we have a suit
but it never went anywhere.
I think that Jack
has a good formula
of introducing a few songs,
a few of his original songs
between the cover band
songs that everybody knows.
Right.
So, you know, they'll
give it more of a chance
to listen to good original
music when they heard
a couple of songs
that they could sing
the lyric with in between, yeah.
Maybe it's better
to put the stuff that you like
in between the stuff
that other people like
as a way to get them
familiar with something
that they don't really
wanna think about.
Like sand.
Sand is one of the most
important parts
of any batch of concrete.
We use 50 billion tons
of it every year
because sand actually
makes up
most of what you see every day.
The glass in your windows
the chips in your phones
the porcelain in your thrones.
But you can only use certain
kinds of sand for construction
because the grains
need to be jagged
and irregular in order to
form a bond with cement
and help it lock into place.
There's even a monument
for sand miners in Long Island
which demonstrates how
critical this resource was
in the formation
of our beloved metropolis.
And because our appetite
for sand has increased so much
we have to continuously find
new places to extract it from.
This includes a lot
of shorelines and riverbeds
which accelerates coastal
erosion
and habitat destruction.
And while environmental
experts try to sound the alarm
the rest of us live
blissfully unaware
of the impending shortage.
The more we take
sand out of the environment
the more it changes
the environment, right?
China used as much concrete,
which is a proxy for sand
because sand goes
into concrete
they used as much concrete
between 2011 and 2014
so just three years,
as the entire U.S. did
over the last century.
And that just shows
that we need so much sand
to the point where
it's maybe even unfathomable.
At the Tibet Center
on 17th Street
they have a public ceremony
that anyone can come and watch
where they spend day after
day carefully crafting
an intricate design out
of colored sand
only to brush it away once
they're finally done with it.
It seems like they really
honor the substance
in a way that concrete
never could
although you're sure
the industry will
ah, come for them
eventually, too.
Have you tried
Jefferson's Bourbon?
- No.
- Oh, it's delicious.
Wait, let me see. Hold on.
Inspired by Thomas Jefferson.
- Oh really?
- Yeah.
We were supposed
to have rehearsal at 12.
- And it was canceled.
- Why?
Because bass and drums
really don't wanna rehearse.
It seems to be like they
don't wanna spend the time
working on new material or
getting the old material right.
It's hard to keep
a band together
when everyone has to make
a living somehow.
Even on your own project
your collaborators
sometimes miss calls
because they have to
take other work.
So you just end up hanging
out by yourself in Zoom rooms
testing out new backgrounds
just worrying that stubbornly
pursuing this project
has permanently disfigured
your professional
and personal life.
All the pools in the city
are made of concrete, too
but a lot of the times
they get so crowded
that the lines stretch
far beyond the horizon.
The line can
be really, really long.
- Yeah?
- We had it
when the pool
was open to capacity
it went all the way straight
up past the basketball courts.
- Oh, really?
- Yes.
So we have opened every
single day this summer
with the exception
of maybe a Category One
or a Category Two
where we have to close.
Category One is if someone
has an accident in the water
maybe a number two,
but a solid one,
or if they vomit.
So we have to close
the pool for a half an hour.
This is where they come in,
they regenerate
they make sure
that water is clean.
We get a Category Two,
which is diarrhea
we have to close the pool
for 25 and half hours
and we have to shock
it at a 10.0.
Because it spreads.
It's like liquid. It's liquid.
So being that it's liquid
it's really...
It'll spread faster
in the water.
Mm. How long does
that take to clean up?
25 and a half hours.
Wow. Why "and a half?"
Yes.
These are our chlorinators.
- Oh, that's the chlorine?
- Yes.
What is leak flang?
- That's the hair catcher.
- Oh, okay.
Does anyone maintain
the concrete here?
No.
They try to, but you would
have to do a overhaul
because it's so old.
There's leaks all over.
They try to fix it,
but it's unrepairable
unless you take everything out
and then redo it all over
from the structure up.
You've been seeing
a lot of different examples
of New York City falling apart.
There's a building in Midtown
that's been held together
with ratchet straps
for a few years now.
The Salt Shed in Chelsea
is held together
at certain joints
with packing tape.
There are cracks
everywhere you look
on the bridges and highways
and different varieties
of corrosion.
And a skyscraper in Midtown
that was only finished
ten years ago is reportedly
falling apart
because the designers wanted
the concrete to be white
which makes it crack easier
and causes big chunks
to fall on the street below.
And they may need to demolish
this entire building
in order to save Midtown.
Recently a historic awning
above a subway entrance
spontaneously collapsed,
but thankfully nobody
was under it.
It was over 120 years old
and it looked like the stuff
that held it together
was in pretty bad condition.
Was it the steel
or was it the concrete?
Concrete worker:
Yeah.
Concrete worker:
It's hard when
you're aware of a flaw
but incapable to stop it
and you shudder to think
of the condition
of the rest of the stuff
around the city.
So, you met up
with a former
Department of Transportation
Commissioner
who is also known as the
inventor of the word
"gridlock."
So, this is a very
unusual structure
called a triple cantilever.
I don't know of any
others in the world.
There may be.
But you could
see the beginning
of the Brooklyn Heights
Promenade
which is a cherished park-like
area for Brooklyn Heights
followed by the northbound
BQE directly under it
the southbound BQE and Furman.
I believe the lifespan
of any concrete deck
is around 40 years.
After that you begin
to see spalling concrete
exposed reinforcing bars.
There are screens
that are holding the concrete
from raining down on cars
and on people's heads.
This is what's supporting
the roadway.
You could see that the rebars
are really just
fossils or imprints.
The byproduct of corrosion,
which we call rust
is larger than the rebar itself.
So it pushes the concrete,
creates a void
the concrete has nothing
to hold onto
and begins to fall
to the ground.
I've seen pieces of concrete
weighing more than 600 pounds
fall to the ground and
crush a motorist below.
So, there is a real concern
that you could have
something catastrophic happen
in this area over
the next few years.
That would not surprise me.
When concrete fails
it is often brought to the
concrete recycling facility
to offset the environmental
impact of production.
But even something designed
to make a positive change
ends up hurting its neighbors
in such a dense city.
In the last year
this toxicity has changed
everything we know.
I usually have to wear
my mask everywhere.
I'm a professional singer
and I get sick all the time
so my engagements have
not been working out
and we want things to go
back to the way they were
'cause it's a great place
to live and raise a family.
You're a professional singer?
Yes.
But this is sort
of the typical soot.
The bedroom window
is even worse.
You know, you're never
gonna not have dust
but this is a whole
different kind of dust.
It's just everywhere.
For my voice and my age
and where I'm at
I mean, I could be working
pretty regularly and-
But yet you don't have like
decades more, you know
I don't have decades
more to do this
so I would really like
to be performing now.
Yeah.
Shut it down, shut it down!
The protests
lasted for weeks
and the only way the mayor
would allow it to shut down
is if he could build a new
high-rise in its place.
Shut it down!
This was part of a larger
push from the mayor
to build affordable housing
and his grand plan
to accelerate development
was a zoning amendment
called the City of Yes.
This proposal would
potentially add 80,000 new
homes to the city
and allow additional units
to be built in unused airspace.
The bill would also
promise close to $2 billion
in infrastructure improvement
potentially solving some
of the flooding issues
everyone's been having
and hopefully make it
so that your power lines
don't catch on fire anymore
disabling the power
grid for days
forcing the pizzeria
to move all their mozzarella
to another fridge
across the street.
But despite some
of the positive aspects
the City of Yes started to
worry a lot of local homeowners
and they had a community
meeting
to talk about it in
your neighborhood
that you were invited to.
This was designed
for the building industry
by the building industry
and if we don't stop it,
our communities are toast.
We're all for affordable housing
because you are the people
who give affordable housing
to your neighborhood.
I mean,
most of the owners I know
they have long-term tenants
and they wrestle over
raising the rent
of the good tenant
that they have.
Think about it,
when a developer comes in
and now he has looser rules
he thinks about, "How can
I even make more money?"
It's not just
because we don't like change.
I mean, there's always
good change
and there can be bad change.
There's an idea
in Buddhism called Samsara
which suggests
that all suffering
comes from the refusal
to accept that
change is inevitable
and that the only
constant is impermanence.
Eventually all
the city council members
met one day
to finally take a vote
on whether or not
to pass the City of Yes
and a lot of the more
conservative council members
seemed to immediately
oppose it.
This is something that threatens
the very character
of our neighborhoods
and it's really...
It's really egregious
that we're turning over
many of the decisions
to developers.
Infrastructure experts tell us
that we can barely sustain
housing as it currently exists.
Flooding is a major
problem in this city
sewers are overwhelmed as it is
and the electrical grid
is at a breaking point.
Despite all
the opposition
most of the progressive
council members
saw this as a step
in the right direction.
We need to build in this city.
We need to build
affordability in this city.
We need rent stabilization
in this city.
We need so much
more to protect
the working class New Yorkers
that exist within
the five boroughs.
This council cannot
be the body that says no
to people that need
a place to live.
You're a bullshitter,
that's what you are!
You're bullshitting the people!
Bullshitter!
- Bullshitter!
- Sergeants,
please remove him
from the gallery.
Just say no to City of Yes!
There
will be no interruptions...
You're selling out
- people of color!
- ...from the gallery.
You are selling out
- people of color!
- Please be quiet
as you are moving out.
Say no to the City of Yes!
Take back New York City!
Speaker Adams,
you're a bullshitter!
At the end
of the comment portion
they all took a vote
and the City of Yes
passed 31 to 28
and they immediately
had a celebration downstairs
as if they all knew
this was coming.
It seems like
a lot of people were confused
about how to feel
about this happening
and you're really
starting to worry
that all this new stuff won't
last longer than 40 years.
At this point,
all the conversation
about funding your film
had completely dried up
and you finally
started to feel like
you weren't the only one
this was happening to.
You read in the news that
all the old media companies
were continuing to aggregate
into a single behemoth.
But when you treat cultural
artifacts like poker chips
it's hard to know
what will happen
when the casino shuts down.
Did you see
the Billy Joel doc?
No, I didn't.
Hey, you wanna
try some mezcal?
Oh, no thank you.
But thanks for asking.
Would you like some mezcal?
- No, thank you.
- No dog today?
No.
Pourquoi, mademoiselle?
She usually comes in with a dog.
- Same color hair.
- Yeah.
Oh, she has the same
color hair as her dog?
Yeah.
As you followed
your musician friend more
his band seemed
to be doing really well.
He was performing
at a lot of different venues
and he was able to keep his
band together long enough
to record some original music.
And he even
made a music video.
But then one night before a gig
at an Irish bar in Astoria
he called you with some
really bad news.
His fiance, who you
didn't even know existed
had just passed away in
the middle of the night
under mysterious circumstances.
The hospital's saying that
she died of natural causes.
It's like nobody dies
from irritable bowel syndrome.
Nobody.
We were together
at least 15 years.
- Really?
- Yeah.
- So sorry.
- Yeah.
How'd you meet her?
Well...
I read tarot cards
and I'm into that esoteric stuff
and so I used to read
her cards initially.
Is everybody happy to see
this month finished with?
- Good God, yeah.
- Yeah.
- Hopefully the next month is
gonna be better than this one.
Don't bet on it.
When you lose somebody you love
that's so close to you
it's almost like a part
of you has died
and the only way
to deal with it...
if you have that
creative ability
it's the only thing that gets
you through the day sometimes.
When you got home,
you looked online
to see if there was anything
about his late fiance
and you discovered
a New York Times obituary
that was published a
couple days earlier.
Her name was
Dorothy Chin Brandt
and she was actually
a trailblazing
Asian American judge.
It says that her cause
of death was sepsis
and from the looks of it,
they had been in love
for a very long time.
And they even had
a memorial for her
at a Chinese cultural
center in Flushing.
She had the greatest
sense of humor in the world
and it was very understated,
but it was hysterical.
You were looking
around for Jack
but you couldn't
find him anywhere.
So, you decided to leave
because you quickly
ran out of questions
to ask people there.
So what advice would you give
to an aspiring young
Asian judge?
You called Jack
and asked him what was going on
and he told you that he had
an upcoming performance
at the Montauk Music Festival.
This was one
of the biggest opportunities
for musicians on Long Island
but unfortunately Jack
came down with a cold
right before
he was about to start
a long string of performances.
I think this is gonna
be the big show
and I hope I don't
mess up at all.
All right, everybody,
we are Nebulus.
We're very excited
to be here
for the Montauk Music Festival.
Thank you for having us.
We're gonna play some
originals and some covers.
This first song is an original
called "Hit the Highway."
Can you hear me out there?
What happened to the sound guy?
Afterward he brought you
to his beachfront motel
room to offer you
a little leftover liquor
from another promotion.
Vinny's actually crashing there.
Oh, wait, your bassist?
Yeah, Vinny's brand new.
Oh, okay.
- He is not very skilled.
- Yeah.
That's about an ounce
and a half, maybe two.
I saw your fiance's
obituary before we came out
and I didn't know
she was a judge.
Yeah.
Uh, a very accomplished judge.
She's a very prominent person.
She was a trailblazer
in her own way
and she was always behind
me seeing things in me
that I didn't even see in
myself or I didn't wanna see.
Was it at all
complicated being engaged
to a judge
with, like, your lifestyle?
Not at all. Because I think
in a lot of ways
we were just kindred spirits
but on the outside, we seemed
to have circles that never fit
you know, or worlds
that would never collide.
I guess we had that
indescribable love
that opposites attract, I guess.
Did she preside
over any famous cases?
Uh... A number of mob
racketeering busts.
- Oh, really?
- I think the one
that seems to pop out
the most is DMX
the rapper, who's deceased now.
She was the judge
in a case against DMX?
Yeah, and he went to jail
because of her.
What was DMX on trial for?
I think he was impersonating
a police officer.
- Really?
- Yeah.
Now, I didn't know this
until her best friend
found the last will
and testament
that I was the executor
and the beneficiary.
So you didn't know
- that you were in the will?
- I had no idea.
I had no idea
that she had a will.
Wow.
She wasn't supposed to--
She's not supposed to be dead.
- She's supposed to be alive.
- Hmm.
Do you feel like
it's good to have trauma
lead towards a positive arc?
Making lemonade?
Yeah.
I think that's probably
the best thing you can do
is to make lemonade.
Oceanfront.
So what's next for you?
What's next is...
Don't lose my voice.
Get back to the city.
Take care of all the things
I left behind.
There's a lot to take care of.
If you could watch
a documentary about anything
what would it be about?
Documentary about anything?
How to build a house.
Milk, milk, lemonade.
Some people just wanna
see a house get made.
I guess if you run around
in circles for long enough
you'll eventually just
get somewhere new.
Way to go.
Oh, thank you.
Thank you. Thank you.
Running on the worst
possible surface
an uneven concrete surface,
dodging students
scooters, and strollers
day after day
that these runners were able
to accomplish what they have.
Do you believe in miracles?
And even though
it feels good
to finally finish something
don't get too comfortable
at the finish line
because everyone knows
that the real reward
is being able to start
all over again.
Because at the end
of the day
nothing lasts forever.
Except maybe a...
Maybe a tombstone.
And that's it.