Rick Rosner On, 14: Hats, Smart Glasses, Movie Clichés, Gym Etiquette, and Meryl Streep
Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen
Publication (Outlet/Website): Personal SubStack
Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2026/07/19
Scott Douglas Jacobsen and Rick Rosner discuss hats, hair-loss anxieties, smart glasses, privacy concerns, cinematic clichés, gym etiquette, and acting greatness. Rosner explains why he avoids hats, criticizes camera-equipped eyewear, “chop-chop” dialogue, excessive vomiting, and lovestruck pratfalls, and recalls leaving My Big Fat Greek Wedding. He also condemns smartphone use on occupied gym equipment before naming Meryl Streep as the default choice for greatest actress and noting her record 21 Academy Award acting nominations overall
Scott Douglas Jacobsen: Were you ever a big hat person?
Rick Rosner: Hats? No. Hats make me look extra Jewish. You put a hat on my fucking head, and that is what happens.
Also, during the years when I worried about my hair falling out, I did not want a hat rubbing against it. Hats do not ordinarily cause permanent hair loss, but I was concerned that the friction might pull out loose hairs. For decades, I would not even wear a T-shirt because I was afraid that putting it on and taking it off would pull out too much hair.
Hats can also look douchebaggy in modern America. You put on a fedora, douchebag. You put on a newsboy cap, douchebag. You put on a baseball cap, fine. You put on a cowboy hat, in most contexts, fine. Maybe you are keeping the sun off your head. You put on a backward baseball cap, fine in some contexts, although it might look kind of douchebaggy in others.
So, no, I have never been a big hat guy.
Jacobsen: What fad are you glad is gone, other than Google Glass?
Rosner: Well, that is not entirely gone. Smart glasses are back, although many people still consider them douchebaggy. Ray-Ban Meta glasses and several competing products have cameras built into them.
Some people remain concerned that camera-equipped glasses can be used for covert recording or other invasions of privacy. There have been broader concerns about people being recorded without their knowledge, although I do not know how commonly they are used to look up people’s skirts on escalators.
Jacobsen: Is that true?
Rosner: I do not know. It is not a product I am interested in owning at this point.
I cannot think of a major fad. There are some verbal and visual clichés that I dislike when I encounter them on television. There is always some semi-asshole who wants somebody else to move faster and says, “Chop-chop.” I hate that every time.
I also hate the use of vomiting to punctuate a dramatic or comedic moment. There is too much vomiting. I have nothing against vomiting as such, but it is overused in television and movies.
We have discussed how much I hate pratfalls used to indicate that somebody is lovestruck. A character sees somebody for the first time, experiences love at first sight, and immediately trips over something. I hate that bullshit.
Jacobsen: You mentioned that in the context of My Big Fat Greek Wedding, right?
Rosner: Yes. I walked out of the movie at that point. I thought, “I do not like this movie.”
It seemed like a movie made for people who had not seen very many movies before. We were at a multiplex, so I left my wife and went looking for another movie to watch.
Most of the trends that I am glad have ended, or wish would end, are found in television and movies. One real-life trend that I do not expect to disappear is people sitting on gym equipment, using their phones, and not exercising, even when you hint that they should move.
You cannot simply tell people to get the fuck off a machine. You technically can, but I have almost never done it because you might get into trouble, and it probably would not work.
What you can say is, “Excuse me, how many more sets do you have?” That is a polite hint that other people are fucking waiting. However, it does not necessarily get them off the machine or persuade them to stop using their phones.
You may have to ask three times because they are wearing earbuds. Eventually, they will say, “One set,” or “Two sets,” and then immediately return to their phone.
They will not necessarily perform the set promptly and get out of your fucking way, as people were more likely to do before everyone carried a smartphone. So, there you go. I have to wrap up.
Jacobsen: Best actor of all time? Best actress of all time?
Rosner: For best actress, the default answer is Meryl Streep. You do not get much of an argument about that.
Could you make a case for somebody else? Yes, probably. But when people are asked to name the greatest actress of all time, Meryl Streep is often the first person who comes to mind. She also holds the record for the most Academy Award acting nominations, with 21.
A theatre historian might name Sarah Bernhardt or somebody like that. Thank you for your time.
Jacobsen: Thank you very much for the opportunity and your time, Rick.
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