Just the Gist

WE MADE IT. Welcome to 2021. Let's all agree that last year can go straight into a bin that is then lobbed directly into the sun. But before that happens, let's reminisce on the dumpster fire that was the last 12 months...Here's just the gist of 2020!

We give you Just The Gist, but if you want more, there's this:

Normally we put links here, but... for real... we all lived it. Just google stuff. 

Email us with your suGISTions! [email protected]

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Whether you're stuck dealing with racist Uncle Barry or chilling at home eating Chinese food and watching movies, we decided to get you through the day with a sneaky lil history on the origins of Santa Claus! And it's a pretty intense history tbh. There's pimping out women for cash, children being turned into ham and eaten, and way more guns than you would've thought.Oh, and we answer the question everyone asks in primary school: Was Santa's red and white suit really invented by the Coca Cola company?

We give you Just The Gist, but if you want more, there's this:

This is an excellent documentary about Christmas traditions from around the world https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=crocEiyluyk 

Read about the 'real' Saint Nick's life https://www.stnicholascenter.org/who-is-st-nicholas 

Check out Santa's appearances in wartime propaganda https://www.history.com/news/santa-goes-to-war 

Some more details on Sinterklaas traditions https://www.whychristmas.com/cultures/holland.shtml 

Here's some detail on how the New York Knickerbockers made Santa a thing in the USA http://historydetectives.nyhistory.org/2018/12/the-new-york-city-origins-of-santa-claus/ 

Email us your suGISTions! [email protected]

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In 1979, a fire broke out on the ghost train at Sydney’s Luna Park, killing 7 people - 6 of them children. Despite being over 40 years since the tragedy occurred, it’s still considered one of Sydney’s greatest unsolved mysteries, as authorities never figured out how or why it happened. But, there are main two theories that refuse to go away - that an infamous Sydney criminal caused the fire in an attempt to take over the park, or... that a devil-horned man named Moloch started the fire as part of a child sacrifice.

Story starts at approx 13:17

We give you Just The Gist, but if you want more, there’s this:

Daily Telegraph article with interviews: https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/nsw/luna-park-tragedy-36th-anniversary-of-the-fire-that-killed-seven-riders-on-the-ghost-train-in-1979/news-story/6e70f4ea61959d1d393ce597da253c78

Mosman Collective article with good collection of pics: https://www.mosmancollective.com/latest/2020/6/11/local-history-the-un-solved-mystery-behind-the-deadly-ghost-train-inferno-at-luna-park-still-haunts-sydney-more-than-40-years-later

Some podcast eps: 

Fairground F*uck-Ups:  https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/the-ghost-train-luna-park-pt-1/id1536362713?i=1000500701793

True Crime Island:

https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/episode-25-the-luna-park-ghost-train-fire/id1184429621?i=1000392932858

Investigates: https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/investigates/id1344649849?i=1000469479078

Email us with your suGISTions! 

[email protected]

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In 2009, six celebrity-obsessed teenagers decided that the best way to live like their idols was to, well, steal their stuff. These kids used Google, TMZ, Facebook and good ol' Hollywood Star Maps to figure out where celebs lived and when exactly when they weren't at home. Then they'd break into their (usually unlocked) mansions and steal piles of their stuff. They ransacked the homes of Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan, Rachel Bilson, Orlando Bloom and more. By the time they were caught, they had $3million worth of stuff, and the crazy thing? Most of the celebrities hadn't even noticed anything was missing.

Story starts at approx 13:57

We give you Just The Gist, but if want more, there's this:

This is the article that blew up the story around the world, Nancy Jo Sales’ The Suspect wore Louboutins: 

https://archive.vanityfair.com/article/share/e9cc0cc3-dbf1-4fab-8367-5fc7c05608e6

Her book 'The Bling Ring': https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16248269-the-bling-ring

The Bling Ring movie by Sophia Coppola (available in Australia on STAN): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q4LzhgExvrc

Read all the details of how Nick Prugo destroyed a woman’s life in a vicious, evil way 

https://www.lamag.com/longform/aesthetician-arrested-murder/ 

Here’s an update on where the Ring members were in 2018

https://www.usmagazine.com/celebrity-news/pictures/the-bling-ring-where-are-they-now/alexis-neiers/ 

Watch the Alexis reality show 'Pretty Wild' (this ep is the one where she gets mad at Vanity Fair for saying she was wearing the wrong shoes): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l6nlonPQQlU 

Email us with your suGISTions! [email protected]

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In 1995, daytime talk shows like Jerry Springer and Jenny Jones were at the height of their popularity thanks to using a tactic called ‘ambush television’ - getting guests on stage and shocking or embarrassing them for entertainment. There were episodes like ‘Mom, I’ve been sleeping with your boyfriend’ or ‘Remember our one night stand? WELL THIS IS YOUR BABY!’ 

One episode of Jenny Jones at the time was called ‘Guess your secret crush!’ and in it, a man called Scott Amedure admitted to his friend Jonathan Schmitz that he had a crush on him. Three days later, Scott was dead. Jonathan had murdered him, and he blamed The Jenny Jones Show.

Story starts at approx 24:05

We give you Just The Gist, but if you want more, there’s this:

The doco episode of ‘Trial By Media’ that Rosie talked about, called ‘Talk Show Murder’ (on Netflix): https://www.netflix.com/title/80198329?s=i&trkid=13747225

Episode of ‘Criminal’ podcast about the ‘Gay Panic’ defence: https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/criminal/id809264944?i=1000458839778

Some articles: https://www.cheatsheet.com/entertainment/inside-the-jenny-jones-show-murder-25-years-later.html/

https://people.com/crime/netflix-trial-by-media-jenny-jones-murder/

This episode may have been triggering or upsetting for members of the LGBTQIA community, so please reach out if you need to. Here’s some links:

Lifeline: https://www.lifeline.org.au/
Q Life: https://qlife.org.au/
ACON: https://www.acon.org.au/
Beyond Blue: https://www.beyondblue.org.au/

Email us your suGISTions! [email protected]

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Imagine if Donald Trump and the dude who created Fyre Fest were allowed to run an Olympics - that’s the level of disaster that was going on at the 1904 St Louis Olympic Games. Nothing was organised, competitors almost died, and the US kept giving citizenship to foreign athletes who won so they could have the highest medal tally. Who cares if cars were literally driving through races? AMERICA WANTED TO WIN BIGLY.

Story starts at approx 20:00

We give you just the gist, but if you want more, there’s this:

Some fun articles to read about the Marathon:

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-1904-olympic-marathon-may-have-been-the-strangest-ever-14910747/ 

https://www.avclub.com/the-1904-olympic-marathon-was-the-worst-race-ever-run-1842740808 

This one in particular has some great photos: 

https://www.boredpanda.com/1904-olympic-marathon-st-louis/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=organic 

And some articles about the Olympics as a whole: 

https://www.history.com/news/8-unusual-facts-about-the-1904-st-louis-olympics 

https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB109218288511488239 

One of many videos on YouTube about the Games:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tl6Onu-mhVs 

For scale, check out how big the St Louis World’s Fair was in comparison to the Olympics: 

https://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2019/09/the-1904-st-louis-worlds-fair-photos/597658/ 

The Conspirituality Podcast Jacob mentioned:

https://open.spotify.com/show/2imIsM2NZRPpQvI56TLdM5?si=vn2ttetbSC2T3PD0y9RTbA 

Send us your suGISTions! [email protected]

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Her story was one of triumph over trauma. When planes flew into the World Trade Centre twin towers on September 11, Tania Head was on the floor where the plane hit. She somehow made it out, only to still be at ground zero when the tower collapsed. Waking up in hospital with horrific injuries, she is told that her fiancé who was in the other tower, has died. She goes on to become president of the World Trade Centre Survivor’s Network, and is the public face of those who made it out. 

One little problem - she had never even been to the World Trade Centre. She wasn’t even in the country on 9/11. IT WAS ALL A LIE. 

So how does a woman who made up her entire story of survival end up president of the damn Survivor’s Network? And what happened when they found out she’d been faking it all along - that she was the woman who wasn’t there?

Story starts at approx 24:34

We give you Just The Gist, but if you want more, there’s this:

Watch the documentary The Woman Who Wasn't There: https://tubitv.com/movies/319707/the-woman-who-wasn-t-there

Read the book of The Woman Who Wasn’t There: 
https://www.booktopia.com.au/the-woman-who-wasn-t-there-robin-gaby-fisher/book/9781451652093.html

Angelo Guglielmo explains how he came to make the film and write the book:
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/9-11-survivor-book_b_1399852

David Dunlap’s 2007 article that revealed all of Tania’s lies: 
https://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/27/nyregion/27survivor.html?auth=login-email&login=email

Documentary about the hoax from 2008 called The 9/11 Faker:
https://watchdocumentaries.com/the-911-faker/

RECCOS!

The prison podcast by the FyreFest guy Billy McFarland called ‘Dumpster Fyre’: https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/dumpster-fyre/id1535569915

A good article breaking down all the Quibi nonsense: www.theverge.com/platform/amp/2020/10/21/21527197/quibi-streaming-service-mobile-shutting-down-end-katzenberg

DISHMANTLED! https://youtu.be/f4fx6V7ura0

The AMAZING Coogee Bay Hotel poo article in Junkee by Rob Stott: https://junkee.com/coogee-bay-poo-mystery/179190

Follow us on Insta! @rosiewaterland@jacobwilliamstanley@justthegistpodcast

Email us with ideas/comments/complaints about the Breakin’ News song! [email protected]

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In October of 1994, three student filmmakers disappeared in the woods near Burkettsville, Maryland while shooting a documentary... A year later their footage was found.

AND EVERYBODY LOST THEIR DAMN MINDS.

The Blair Witch Project was a horror film that gripped the world because everybody (Rosie included) was convinced it was a real 'documentary'. It was a mania that could only have happened at that one point in time - the internet was new, 'found footage' horror movies weren't around yet, and we were all JUST SO NAIVE. But how did the creators actually do it? How did they make millions of people believe they were watching actual footage of missing students being murdered? Rosie gives Jacob Just The Gist on exactly how The Blair Witch Project was pulled off - from auditioning the actors to (whose parents got condolence cards from friends who thought they had died) to faking entire newspaper articles to pull people in.

Story starts at approx 18:34

We give you Just The Gist, but if you want more, there's this:

Ben Rock's 8 detailed blog posts about working on the film: https://www.dreadcentral.com/author/ben-rock/

The 1999 Blair Witch website:https://www.blairwitch.com/main.html

Article about the marketing strategy of the film: https://web.archive.org/web/20170130094758/https://mwpdigitalmedia.com/blog/the-blair-witch-project-the-best-viral-marketing-campaign-of-all-time/

Wikipedia page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Blair_Witch_Project

American Hysteria podcast mini-episode about The Blair Witch Project mania of 1999: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/13-believing-in-the-blair-witch/id1441348407?i=1000437303993

This week's RECCOS:

Watch Seduced (the other NXIVM documentary besides 'The Vow'): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SmogBLEhbjY
(Available to watch in Australia on Stan)

Listen to the 'wellness debunking' podcast Rosie mentioned called 'Maintenance Phase':
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/maintenance-phase/id1535408667

Reply All episode about QAnon 'A Country of Liars': https://gimletmedia.com/shows/reply-all/llhe5nm/166-country-of-liars

Rabbit Hole podcast:https://www.nytimes.com/column/rabbit-hole

Follow us on Insta! @jacobwilliamstanley@rosiewaterland@justthegistpodcast

Email us your ideas![email protected]

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In 1976 in the tiny town of Chowchilla, three men kidnapped 26 kids (aged 5-14) and their busdriver. They piled them into blacked-out vans, drove for 12 hours to the middle of nowhere, then forced them to climb down a ladder into a hole in the ground before locking them inside. As the older kids tried to comfort the younger ones, they suddenly heard the unmistakable sound of dirt being poured on top of them. They were being buried alive. BUT! As Rosie always says, arrogant male criminals are idiots, so things don't exactly go to plan for the kidnappers...  

Story starts at approx 23:07

We give you Just The Gist, but if you want more, there's this:

CBS 48 Hours documentary episode: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/chowchilla-bus-kidnapping-frederick-woods-survivor-i-felt-like-i-was-an-animal-going-to-the-slaughterhouse/

A collection of the nutso photos Rosie mentioned: https://www.cbsnews.com/pictures/chowchilla-bus-kidnapping-frederick-woods-rare-photos-from-one-of-the-largest-kidnappings-in-u-s-history/

Trusty old Wikipedia page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1976_Chowchilla_kidnapping

My Favourite Murder podcast ep about it: https://podcasts.apple.com/gh/podcast/233-free-range-children/id1074507850?i=1000486606773

News article about Frederick Woods' 2019 parole hearing: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7550463/Chowchilla-kidnapper-67-parole-40-years-abducted-26-kids-buried-alive.html

RECCOS!
Class Action Park: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mqg48h_uKYM 
(Watch in Australia on BINGE)

My Octopus Teacher: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3s0LTDhqe5A
(Watch in Australia on Netflix)

FOLLOW!
Rosie on Instagram: @rosiewaterland
Jacob on Instagram:@ jacobwilliamstanley
Just The Gist on Instagram: @justthegistpodcast

EMAIL US WITH SUGGISTIONS!
[email protected]

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JACOB'S COMPUTER POOPED ITSELF. And he's in the middle of nowhere working on that ridiculous tan, so we couldn't record together this week. Buuuut... we know how sad you get when we take a week off, so I forced Caleb to jump on the mic and do half an hour of Breakin' Nooz with me! Then we re-dropped the Anna Delvey episode, because a certain actress is going to play her in a TV show and was recently seen visiting her in prison...

This week's RECCOS:
Watch Love Fraud: https://play.stan.com.au/programs/55932/seasons/extras

Watch Get Orgnaised: The Home Edit: https://www.netflix.com/browse?jbv=81094723

Watch PEN15 Season 2: https://play.stan.com.au/programs/2758060/play

Listen to the American Hysteria podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/american-hysteria/id1441348407

Read 'The Diana Chronicles' by Tina Brown: https://www.amazon.com.au/Diana-Chronicles-Tina-Brown/dp/076792309X

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She turned up in New York and said she was an heiress to a Russian billionaire family. She stayed in the best hotels, ate at the best restaurants and hung out with the coolest high society people. BUT IT WAS ALL FAKE AND NOW SHE'S IN PRISON. For scamming, well, pretty much everyone. Genius or con artist? Or both?

We give you Just The Gist, but if you want to dive deeper, there's this:

The viral article from The Cut that first made Anna (in)famous: https://www.thecut.com/2018/05/how-anna-delvey-tricked-new-york.html

The Fake Heiress podcast from BBC: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fake-heiress/id1491349699

The book by Rachel DeLoache Williams: 'My Friend Anna': https://www.booktopia.com.au/my-friend-anna-rachel-deloache-williams/book/9781787478299.html

Anna Delvey's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theannadelvey/

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