Suggestible - Catherine Called Birdy & Weird: The Al Yankovic Story

Episode Date: November 9, 2022

Suggestible things to watch, read and listen to. Hosted by James Clement @mrsundaymovies and Claire Tonti @clairetonti.Claire's album launch tickets: https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/claire-tonti-album-launch-tickets-460602724147Please vote for The Weekly Planet in Listener Choice Awards: https://australianpodcastawards.com/voteThis week’s Suggestibles:05:53 Weird: The Al Yankovic Story15:40 Catherine Called Birdy25:47 Everything is Going to be All Right read by Andrew Scott26:29 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Cowabunga Collection31:54 Taylor Swift's Folklore: The Long Pond Studio SessionsSend your recommendations to [e-mail], we’d love to hear them.You can also follow the show on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook @suggestiblepod and join our ‘Planet Broadcasting Great Mates OFFICIAL’ Facebook Group. So many things. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We can wait for clean water solutions, or we can engineer access to clean water. We can acknowledge Indigenous cultures, or we can learn from Indigenous voices. We can demand more from the earth, or we can demand more from ourselves. At York University, we work together to create positive change for a better tomorrow. Join us at yorku.ca slash write the future. Claire, it's the slash write the future. Trescent. It's about love and motherhood and identity and it's been a bloody delight to create and I've had so much fun. And I'm going to be launching the album on February 12th at 3pm at the Wesleyan in Northgate. If you are in Melbourne, I would so love you to come along. Tickets are available in the link below. Seats are limited. They're more than halfway. Yeah, they're already

almost, yeah, over halfway now. Yeah, not many tickets left. So it's a pretty intimate space. So I wanted to do just like a really special gig. My cousin actually, Woody Samson, who's really excellent, is going to be opening the show, which is really cool. He's amazing. He's way better than you.

He actually is way better than me. I don't know why I decided to do that, but I have. And I'll be performing them with the guy who I've been making some music with called Ezekiel Fenn, and that's really cool as well. And, yeah, so tickets are available in the link in my bio below. We're going to have some laughs and storytelling. There'll be some merch available. And I'm possibly going to be doing a preorder of vinyl,

which I'll keep you updated. Will I be there? You will definitely be there. And we're going to hang around after the show and have a drink and a chat, maybe some food. James will probably ghost, who knows. I'd love to see you and have a little chat if you would like to come along. So that's 3 p.m. at the Wesleyan in Northgate.

And jump in quick because, yeah, you're right, tickets are over half sold. Can you expand the room? Probably not. No, we can probably. It's all seated currently. So we could make some more standing room. You want a comfortable venue.

Yeah, but I'm old and I want to sit down. So it's seated. We're just letting you know. So maybe we might expand it. We'll see. See. But I would get in quick because it's selling out. I'll bet.

Did you buy me a ticket? Have to buy a ticket? No, not yet. I haven't. Oh, my God, I should buy a ticket. Yeah, you probably should. Yeah. All right. So, yeah, so yet. Oh, my God, I should buy a ticket. Yeah, you probably should. Yeah. All right.

So, yeah, so the link is in my show notes below. And the album is great. I've already heard the whole thing. Oh, thanks, mate. Yeah, I'm really proud. Actually, I'm really proud of it. When I listened through to the whole thing, I just got really emotional. And if you can't come, it's obviously available or will be available.

Yeah, so after that date, it's going to be on Spotify and all the streaming apps. I'm going to be releasing a single in early December, so that's going to come out really soon. It's a cover of Mariah Carey's All I Want for Christmas. So that'll be the first one that's coming out early December. It's not that, but I'm joking. No, but you can find out more details over on my Instagram

if you're interested. Would you do a Christmas album? I've done one with you. My aim is at some point. Oh, no, I meant to like spring it on you and not remind you. Oh, no, that's next month. Oh, yes, I've been planning this for many months. Fuck.

All right, we should get on with the show. We should. Bing, bong, bing, bing. Bongity, we should get on with the show. We should. Bing bong, bing bing, bongity bing, bing bong, bong, bong. I don't know what happened at the end there. Very interesting. I know. I'm experimenting with my bing bongs. Hello.

Are you going to talk at the same time as me or the whole time? It's not very professional. Not the whole time. All right. It's bound to happen, though. It is a podcast. That's what they do. But Collings will edit it out. He'll separate our voice using the appropriate audio equipment.

Long-suffering Collings, I edit out. No one likes a podcast that waffles. My name is Claire Tonti, James Clements is here also. We are married, this is a just for podcast, we recommend you things to watch, read and listen to. And I'm excited to be here on this day of days, an auspicious day. Well, I can imagine you would be excited because you've probably read Project Hail Mary by this point in time.

Look, everyone. Look, I've been tweeted many a time. I appreciate all of you. Just quit, Claire. I have read four pages. That's nothing. You're not even going to remember that. You're going to have to reread them.

Yeah, look, I've started. I've broken the back. I've broken the back. You're not even going to remember that. You're going to have to reread them. Yeah, look, I've started. I've broken the back. I've broken the back. No, you have not. You don't know what broken the back means. James, James, James, James. Just audio book it. It's a journey.

Or don't. It's a journey. It's a journey. It's a whole process. And everyone is here for me. What do you think? At the start, oh, I don at the start oh i don't like it also like i get it he's like being i know i know absconded by aliens i don't know something yeah

it sounds like you really get it yeah that's exactly what his penis had like all these tubes in him when he woke up and then he's the tube come out of his penis and he was like oh that's painful i'm like you've never had childbirth or anything, weird guy who can't remember things about your own life. I don't know. Look, I'm withholding my judgment. I'm in Musicland. I don't have a lot of things for other things other than Musicland.

Well, that's really exciting, Claire. I know. It's not very helpful for a podcast. Have you actually read anything this week, Claire? I'm getting the wheelie thing, the fiddly wheelie one. I love the wheel. Give me the wheel. No, too bad, too sad.

Nah, give me another one then. Give me that weird little. Which one are you going to have? I'll take the weird little bike chain. We have a box of fiddly things. They know. All right. They know.

I bought them. I told you the story of these, right? I bought them for my kids in my class. Yeah, no, I know. So instead we use them. What does that say about us? I know. I know that.

They're really enjoyable though. They certainly are. Now let's get on with it. All right. Get on with the show. Yeah, yeah, yeah. What have you got? Just quit.

I will never quit. I will always read a really bad book. It's not actually bad. And everyone's going to tweet me now and be like, it's excellent. I'm offending a lot of people. And I'm sure it's really great. He had a tube in his penis. I don't know. Your turn to

review a thing. Do you think you'd read it if it was called He Had a Tube in His Penis? No. I wouldn't. Do you want me to go first? Yes. Cool. Okay. Well, I watched a movie called Weird The Al Yankovic Story. This is directed by Eric Appel and it was written by him and also Weird Al himself.

So it stars Daniel Radcliffe as Weird Al. Is it current or was it made many moons ago? It literally just came out. Okay, excellent. Oh, you're so up with the terms. I'd like to be. It also stars Evan Rachel Wood as Madonna, like Madonna, Madonna. Like a real Madonna. Oh, you're so up with the times. I'd like to be. It also stars Evan Rachel Wood as Madonna. Like Madonna, Madonna.

Like a real Madonna. Yeah, real Madonna. Rainn Wilson as Dr. Demento. And there's also lots of fun cameos from both. Like, oh, that's a famous person playing a different famous person and whatever. There's a lot of that going on in it, which I won't spoil because there's a bunch of them.

Anyway, so this is the unexaggerated true story about the greatest musician of all time. You know who he is, right? The greatest musician of all time. Weird Al, he's got the accordion and he does like parody songs. There was Eat It. Does he have weird hair? Yeah.

Yeah. Okay, yes, I do know. There was Beat It, Michael Jackson, and he did Eat It. There was Gangster's Paradise, he did Amish Paradise. He's got a whole lot of these different things, right? Very clever. Yeah. It's almost like he's the best musician of all time.

Oh, yeah, so from a conventional upbringing where playing the accordion was a sin, weird Al Yankovic rebels and makes his dream of changing the words to world-renowned songs come true. An instant success in a sex symbol, Al lives an excessive lifestyle and pursues an infamous romance that nearly destroys him. So this is, you probably could tell because that was exaggerated, it's a parody of music biopics. You know, like that Elvis movie, Walk the Line.

There was also a movie called Rhapsody. Rhapsody, terrible movie. But yes, good example. Is it called Rhapsody? I don't give a shit. It's fine. It's terrible. I like the Elton John one. I think it is bad.

I think it's a bad movie. There was actually a similar movie to this called Walk Hard from 2008, which is also quite good. So if you like this, you'll definitely like that. But the thing about this story is, Claire, yeah, it's just a lie. Like the entire thing, like how he writes his songs, the things that happen to him, the people that he interacts with,

actually some of that is true. But it's just a big lie. It's just a bold-faced lie. And the lies are so like that's so ridiculous that you would like pass that off as a real event. That is what makes it funny. And it is. It's incredibly funny.

Like, for example, you know the song Beat Us by Michael Jackson? Yeah. This movie takes a turn at one point where he goes, I'm not writing parody songs anymore. So he writes the song Eat It, right? Yeah. And then they very, very clearly go out of their way to say, this is an original song.

Weird Al wrote this song that's not based off anything. And then afterwards, Michael Jackson does a parody of his song and he's like mad about it and whatever, because it's like destroying his legacy and all of it. Just shit that's like, that's obviously not true. So basically it pokes fun at all these kinds of stories, like the cliches and the drug use and the money and band breakups and all of that. You're going to be seeing all of that. It also like zags in ways that you don't expect it's going to go. Like you think maybe a joke is going to go a certain way and it goes a different way or the story. I don't really want to spoil any of that because there's so many things in it, which just like takes a turn. And I'm like, I didn't expect this and this is great. I'm loving this. Daniel Radcliffe is like, it's not a good choice for Weird Al.

Like he doesn't look like him. He's clearly miming the whole way through it. But it works. Like he's just really just going all out. Like he's like a foot shorter. Like it doesn't work at all. Every Rachel Wood is Madonna. Very good actually. Very good, actually. Very more convincing at the very least.

And also really, really funny is she plays this kind of like she wants to get in with Weird Al so she can like boost her own career, which again is obviously not true because it's Madonna. Yeah. It's amazing. It's so funny. And it's not like if you're worried it's going to be like, oh, is it too rude or too gross or whatever.

It's not. It's none of those things. It's just like just a dumb movie but done in the best way. In the really smart way. Yeah, it is really smart. Because Weta, like he's – there's a reason he's been around for so long, and it's not just because he does parody songs. Like he's an established comedian.

Like he does amazing stage shows with like costume things like that and you know he's vastly talented and apparently very nice and i hope this doesn't all turn around to bite me in the ass and that's why he's like he's like in his 60s and he's like still around and people people still love him paul f tompkins who's actually in this tells this amazing story about this is unrelated where he goes, they were sharing studio space with Weird Al was recording something for a TV show in the other room. Paul F. Tompkins is a comedian, if you don't know. And there's too much noise coming from next door and he goes, don't worry, I know Weird Al.

I'll go in and talk to him. We know each other from comedy. And he goes in and he's like, Weird, you're killing me. You've got to keep it down. And he does this like three or four times. And Weird Al's like, weird, you're killing me. You've got to keep it down. And he does this like three or four times. And Weird Al's like, no, I know, I'm sorry. I'm like, I will. I know, I understand that.

I will. I'll keep it down. Anyway, and he's being really nice about it. It turns out that Paul F. Tompkins doesn't know Weird Al at all. He'd just seen him on TV, as he explains, like everybody else. He'd just seen him on TV. But out there, apparently everybody else, you've just seen him on TV.

But out there, apparently, friends now, that's obviously all fine. It's great. The only thing is it's only available on Roku. What is that? Great question, Claire. It's not here. So BJ Carter actually reached out to Weird Al on Twitter and said, it's not actually available in Australia.

And he said, Roku's working on it. This is from Weird Al himself. In the meantime, there's VPN, very probably no way to watch it legally. I'm sure you have a torrent of other questions, but I have to move along. Sorry. So he's basically saying you can just steal this. I'm assuming they sold it to Roku and just made their money anyway. So that's why.

Yeah, I'd say so. He's like openly encouraging people to steal it. Not me. I would never do that. But this openly encouraging people to steal it. Not me. I would never do that. But this is from Weird Al himself. There you go. I went through the proper channels. Weird horse's mouth.

But, yeah, again, it's really. I'll just spoil this one thing, I guess. There's just a moment where he just engages in like a brutal diner fight. Like it's Daniel Radcliffe and all these like gangsters swarm in and he just like beats up like ten gangsters like really violently. Not like crazy like where it's like. Yeah, yeah. And it comes out of fucking nowhere.

Like it's not that movie at all. And I'm just like amazing. It's just great. Because it's weird. It's so fucking weird. But also it's not like so weird that it's like this is obscure and like I don't get it. It's too weird.

It's like right down the middle. I don't know. I guess like his music, it's like it's just like perfectly. He's just got the right, his taste is excellent. Yeah. Like his ability to time things and edit things and create something. Yeah, it's great. I mean this.

Walks that line. I just can't believe they made it, honestly. It's just strange. It's just a strange movie. And that's your favourite thing. You love strange things. Oh, that sounds really cool. It is really good.

I really. Excellent. And please stop doing music biopics. Patrick H. Willems, who's got a great YouTube channel, talks about how like they're all the same. It's like a guy and he's like, oh, I'm just a, I'm naive and whatever. And then someone comes along and he's like, you should, you're a talent, I'm going to give you, you're going to do some music.

And then he's like, oh, I'm the best in the world. Oh, no, drugs. I'm a band, we're falling apart and whatever. Like, it's just that. You know, they're all that. Yeah. Boring. It's also really sad because that's the that's actually the reality but like i don't really like biopics i did like that elton

john one because i really loved it i loved that because i think it was about the music totally to me i find obviously i find that really interesting how songs come to be i find that fascinating you'll love this yeah which which is why I think what I prefer are music documentaries where you follow someone like Lady Gaga had a great one, Amy Winehouse documentary. Yeah, totally, yeah. Shania Twain had one recently that was really interesting too. I find that more interesting because I actually think musicians

often aren't very good at talking about their art, their musicians. So they tell and speak about their art. They're musicians. So they tell and speak about what they do in the music. And so as I listened to someone recently who did a lot of interviews saying musicians are not very good interviewees often, not always. Sometimes you get someone who's obviously can do all of it, but often they're not because they're telling their story through their art and they're not very good're telling their story through their art. Totally, yeah. And they're not very good conversationally. And I guess that's the thing with music, right?

There's a lot more ambiguity about the meaning of something and you can read and interpret and it's such a highly skilled thing to be able to do. I don't know. I don't know where I got to that. Only just that I prefer to watch music documentaries. No, I understand that, yeah. And there's some really good ones. This one's good. Yeah.

Watch this one. Okay, I will watch this one. You won't watch it, but don't say things. I can't now because you've reviewed it, so I have content for the show. But I do, I'm interested. What I'm really interested in too about that is something that you just said before that it's like his music. And I find that so interesting what people make and the art they make

and how that crosses over between things. Yes. You know, someone who's a really excellent actor can potentially also be a really good musician or a really good writer or, you know, someone like that is a Lady Gaga who just somehow crosses a lot of different genres. Yeah, absolutely. You know, but there's something ostensibly the same,

like Barbra Streisand, there's something ostensibly the same about what they make, whether they're acting or making music or writing, that I find really clever and great. And actually the person I'm going to talk about now, Lena Dunham, is a person like that. All right. All right.

She sucks, man. Okay. All right. Rewind. I want to rewind that because what I want to talk about is her movie that she's just written and directed called Catherine Colbert. Okay, I just mean as a person. But, yeah, sure.

Yeah, I know. So this is the thing about Lena Dunham, right? People have that reaction and I know that she's made a lot of wrong steps, right, in terms of what she said on Twitter. I know that there's some things that have been very controversial and people haven't liked and I know that and she's made some mistakes and I know that. However, I also think she is an incredibly great artist

and an incredible writer. I'd agree with that, yeah. And she also is a really unusual person as a woman in the public sphere. And even though she's copped so much heat for so many wrong moves and mistakes as have, may I say, a plethora of men in the industry. Oh, no, I'm not giving everybody else a part, yeah. She's also not someone who aesthetically fits in the mold of that industry at all. And I think that's another reason why people have so many problems with her as well is because she's a

woman who's really outspoken, who's not aesthetically fitting into a particular box. And she's awkward and she says things that make people feel uncomfortable. She says statements that are really unlikable and yet also she's very feminist and has really interesting things to say. Even though all of that sort of public furor and the hate that she gets and the pylons, she just keeps soldiering through all of that, A, with really complex health issues. She just recently had, or not recently, in the last few years, a hysterectomy because of issues with her uterus.

And I just think that, yeah, people have that kind of visceral reaction against her. But Girls, and I wasn't necessarily the biggest fan of Girls, but I do think it was at that time when it was written, incredibly groundbreaking. I completely agree. I think it does lose its way like dramatically. Yeah, it does.

But the writing was incredibly incisive and oftentimes just, I don't know, right on the pulse of that particular moment. Yeah, I agree with that. And really interesting. And she's making really interesting art. And I want to talk about Catherine Calberti because that's her film that is based on a book called Catherine Calberti that was written by Karen Cushman in 1994 that won a Newbery Prize. And Lena read it when she was only 10 years old.

And it's this story set in the 13th century of a girl called Birdie living in a village with her father as the Lord, Lord Rollo, and he's played in the movie by Andrew Scott. Andrew Scott, yeah. I'm just looking at this. Good cast. Yeah, it's such a good cast. Bella Ramsey, isn't it? Her mother is played by, yeah, Billy Piper and, yeah, Bella Ramsey. Russell Brand.

Sorry. So Bella Ramsey plays Bertie and, as you just said, from Game of Thrones, she is incredible in this role. Because it's such a feminist tale of what it's really like to be. It's kind of like a diary entry from a girl in the 13th century who's really funny and out there and loves pig fighting and mud wrestling and wants to just be free. And the restrictions that are placed on her,

it's right at the time when she gets her period and then her father needs money so he decides to sell her to basically the highest bidder as a bride so that they can prop up the family, not the family business I guess, the lordship in the village and he needs money because he's also a drunk. So it's the process of her being kind of shipped off to different suitors, right? That is obviously a story we hear a lot. But what I loved about it is that the strength of the novel and I think the strength of this movie as well is the vibrancy of Birdie herself and how gross she is and funny she is and energetic she is and silly she is.

And Bella plays her so raucously. She's 19. That is shocking to me. Yeah. She plays it so raucously. She's 19. That is shocking to me. Yeah. She plays it so well. She gets just downright weird and the way she scares off suitors is really great but also the ensemble cast is just incredible in this as well.

Andrew Scott as her father, each character is so well drawn because they're not villains even though you might think Andrew Scott's character, her dad, is the villain of the piece. I won't spoil it but I'll just say that it's clear that he's someone who is an alcoholic and has wasted the family money buying a ridiculous thing like a tiger, right, and he's sort of a dreamer and also deeply passionately in love with his wife

and there's just surprising redemptive moments throughout it. And he's from that era. And he's from that time. And that's the other part of it. It's a real look at what it was like for women then and you were like cattle essentially. And so there's some real poignancy in the film. There is some criticism that it doesn't go as far as the novel does

in terms of building that world because it is really in a lot of ways like a romantic comedy. Do you think it would have worked better as a series maybe? No, I just think it's an excellent film and I think that it doesn't, not everything has to be everything. Yeah. Like I think that it ties things up neatly in Bose and I like that. I think it goes to a dark enough place while also keeping this really wonderful kind of like it's got that sort

of pop sensibility of the soundtrack that keeps it kind of slightly modern and a really funny cast of characters that are also diverse casting too, which is awesome to see. Billy Piper is in this. And Billy Piper plays her mother. Oh, is she? I found it just delightful. Sophie Okonido plays a really interesting widow character who's sort

of in her 40s who marries Bertie's handsome uncle and Bertie's kind of actually in love with this guy and he comes back from the Crusades and even though he's her uncle, you know, it's all a bit blurry back then, but she has him up on this pedestal and that's a really interesting storyline because he ends up marrying this widower because she's really rich and the widower herself admits to Bertie that she's marrying him for the same reason, that it's convenient and he's got a title which gives her a title and they don't love each other but it's safety

and she needs a husband, yeah, for safety reasons. And she's this kind of free spirit and it's just the women are written really beautifully and complexly and I think also Birdie getting her period is really great too, the way they kind of talk through that and like Birdie thinks she's dying when she gets it and then gets explained to her kind of nanny explains to her what's going on and shows how to use a pad and all of that stuff. And that's really moving to me as well because that time of life when you're 13 and 14 as a girl, it's so fragile

and it's so discombobulating. And it's also really unfair because you see her kind of rolling around in the field with these like boys who are like her mates who were like 14, 15. And suddenly the playing field is completely different. So up until that point she could keep up with them and it was fine. And then now she has her period so therefore she can bear children, therefore she needs to get married and she becomes valuable. Yes.

And so she can no longer just be a person. And there's a beautiful scene towards the end of the movie where she kind of screams that at one of the characters that she just wants to be a person. And there's a beautiful scene towards the end of the movie where she kind of screams that at one of the characters, that she just wants to be a person. Yeah. And that they're not objects. And I know that's quite obvious feminist rhetoric, but I also think it's absolutely accurate.

I don't think it's like. It's just still resonant. It's still resonant now. It's so still resonant now. Because I know you've said that to me before when I've asked you in the past, what would you want our son to know about women? No, you said, and it really still, I still remember this, you said that women don't owe you anything and that, you know, they're people.

Yeah. And that shocked me to my core because I thought, well, that's so obvious to me. Not to everyone. But it's not to everyone. It's still not to everyone. And that's what made me so emotional about this movie, even though it's ostensibly incredibly funny. And Andrew Scott is excellent.

Yeah. Anyway, I loved it. Catherine Corberti, it's on Prime. So it was funded by Amazon, which, you know, complex. But, yes, that was there on Prime Amazon. And I will say what's interesting, there's a little quote here from Lena Dunham herself. She says, there are certain books when you're a little kid

that make you feel like you're capable of taking on the world and that's what this book was for me. From the minute I read it, I found the character lovable and maddening and I like that she didn't have any sort of superpowers or sword skills. Her superpowers was just being herself. And it is. It's got a lot of heart in it. So I would totally recommend going to watch it.

It's such a good tween kind of movie too. So if you've got. So you could watch. Yeah. And it would be great to watch with boys as well, not just tween girls. I think it's just got some really interesting themes. One of the, her best friend is gay and that's kind of a little interesting storyline.

It's not really explored heavily but there's just, yeah, it would be a great thing to watch with your tweens i think okay i don't have any and teens yeah actually teens just and anyone really i just i've loved it cool i'm really glad we can wait for clean water solutions or we can engineer access to clean water. We can acknowledge Indigenous cultures. Or we can learn from Indigenous voices. We can demand more from the earth. Or we can demand more from ourselves. At York University, we work together to create positive change for a better tomorrow. Join us at yorku.ca slash write the future.

Yeah. Yeah. Thanks. Did you like it more than New Little Women, Even Littleer Women? Yeah, I loved it more than that. Yeah. Because it's just weirder. It's got that Lena Dunham sensibility, so it is weird. Like there's bits that are like and a bit gross.

Sure. And I love that. It's great. And there's a childbirth scene with Billy Piper that I just burst into tears watching it. It's really surprisingly moving and Andrew Scott's character suddenly becomes, you suddenly see him as this hero and for most of the film you've thought he's sort

of the drunk villain and you really see the strength of the relationship between him and Bertie's mother. And like Bertie's mother nearly dies, it's a little spoiler in childbirth, and he just the strength of their love for each other, he kind of supports her to give birth. And it's just so beautiful. Love Andrew Scott. I love him too.

Unless he does something terrible, in which case I disown Andrew Scott. No, I mean the hot priest in Fleabag, excellent. And he also did that poem during lockdown which I was obsessed with too. Stop all the clocks? No, that's the only poem you can remember. I can't remember the name of it but he's sitting in front of a window and it's just everyone was sharing it. It went viral during lockdown.

Every breath you take, every move you make. Was that it? That was it. I knew it. No, it was just like I can't. It's so good. I'm going to have to find it for you and show it to you later. I that it? That was it. I knew it. No, it was just like I can't – it's so good. I'm going to have to find it for you and show it to you later. I've seen it.

Oh, you've seen it. Yeah, you've talked about it on there. He's wearing like a white billowy shirt. So good. Anyway. You know he's gay, right? I know he's gay. Exactly.

Anyway. I mean, even if he wasn't, it's not like you're like, well, I think I've got a chance there. Yeah, that's true. Exactly. Anyway, over to you. Oh, I've got something that a chance there. Yeah, that's true exactly. Anyway, over to you. I've got something that's right up your alley, Claire. Here he goes.

This is the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles The Cowabunga Collection. You familiar with this? Oh, I can't wait. Try not to tune out this entire time. All right. I'll list all the games available. Here we go. So Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles The Cowabunga Collection is a compilation

of video games developed by Digital Eclipse and published by Konami. I'm not tuning out. I'm here. I'm here. It features 13 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Hang on. Pause. May I just say that if you're a partner of someone who has to listen to this all the

stuff all the time, I feel for you. I feel you. I hear you. Anyway, continue. What's that got to do with anything I'm doing? Nothing. Continue. It features 13 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle video games developed

by Konami between 1989 and 1994. That was the Turtles era, Claire. There were so many video games. Here are the games that were available. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles on the Nintendo. Notoriously difficult game, Claire. You've probably seen the Angry Video Game Nerd video on it. It's my favourite one.

It's pink YouTube, mid-2000s. Yes, I've definitely seen it. There's the favorite one. It's pink YouTube mid-2000s. Yes, I've definitely seen it. There's the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles arcade game, which, sure, it's of its era, not without its charms, but it's not the strongest arcade entry on here, followed up by Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles to the arcade game on the Nintendo, the original Nintendo. The original game was more like you go on a map and whatever

and then you do. But this was more like a side-scrolling beat-em-up thing. I can see you rocking back and forth. And then we're going to skip over to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Fall of the Foot Clan, which is a Game Boy title. Not interested. No, thank you. Then there was TMNT Turtles in Time, a second arcade game. Much better than the first Claire. I did enjoy that one a lot. Then there's TMNT Back from the Sewers, again on Game Boy. Not interested. Then there's TMNT Back from the Sewers, again on Game Boy, not interested. Then there's TMNT 3, The Manhattan Project. That is also a Nintendo Entertainment System game.

And this is where we move things up a little bit, Claire. We've got TMNT 4, Turtles in Time on the Super Nintendo, right? After that, don't worry, there's only 10 left. After that, we've got TMNT The Hyperstone Heist on the Sega Mega Drive or Sega Genesis depending where you are from in the world. I never played that one before. I actually enjoyed that one quite a lot. And then we had TMNT Radical Rescue which was also on the Game Boy. But people are saying that's kind of the hidden gem of this collection.

I think where this game falls down though is they've got three versions of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Tournament Fighters for the Super Nintendo, the Sega Genesis and Mega Drive. How long is this going for? And the Nintendo. And while there are different characters and there are different games, it feels like you've just packaged three of the same kind of game in here. Those are all the games, right?

So it's basically all those games that people love from this era in one nostalgic package. We've got it on the Nintendo Switch, but there are other games, there are other systems. It's pretty much on everything if you are interested. The best Ninja Turtles game, though, if you're looking for something in this era, and I've talked about this before, is Shredder's Revenge, which is perfectly balanced. It's a good length, Claire. There's a good variety of villains and bosses and playable characters,

because you can play as not only the four Ninja Turtles, I've talked about this before, but also April O'Neil, Casey Jones jones and splinter and they all play differently so i feel like that game plays like how you remember the old games does that make sense it manages to capture the nostalgia of the previous generation because they're not those games aren't all winners a lot of them are just like this is a fun oddity or this is a bad game. There are some good things in there, but the newer one is definitively the better game. But still, as a fun little like, oh, yeah, no, yeah, you can do it. What's your favourite Ninja Turtles game, would you say?

The one where I get to shoot myself in the eye. Oh, my God. I haven't played that one. All right. That was great. Thank you so much for sharing. I've learned so much. You didn't even ask any questions.

You recovered it so comprehensively. I couldn't ask a single sharing. I've learned so much. You didn't even ask any questions. You recovered it so comprehensively. I couldn't ask a single question. I don't need to. You summarized it so beautifully. Thank you. I love you very much. That was incredibly valuable. Do you want to ask me if there's any like online?

I feel like a smarter person. Is it two-player, four-player? Can you play online with your friends? Do you want to ask me any of those questions? No. Okay, I'll answer that. I don't have any questions because I don't care. Well, I haven't told you this yet.

Some are single player, some are multiplayer as in two to four, and yes, you can play them online but not all of them in certain games. I feel like this has been going for a really long time. This marriage, you're correct. But again, Shredder's Revenge is the best. But it's not on there. That's a separate game. Cool.

Excellent. Well, I'm really glad that you found something that you love so much. It's all right. And I'm sure there are the people out there, actually the majority of people listening to this being like nodding along, being like, thank you, James, that was a public service announcement. With the older arcade games, they're designed to like chew your money, right? Yes.

So basically you die a lot, it's got infinite coins so like who cares but it's like it doesn't feel like technically you can do well in it. Do you know what I mean? Yes, yes, yes. It's kind of a bit skewed against you which I don't love. Right. The balance is off. Right.

Cool. Excellent. All right. On that note, can I talk about my second thing? What have you got? God. All right. Thank you for those Ninja Turtle recommendations. You don. On that note, can I talk about my second thing? What do you got? God. All right. Thank you for those Ninja Turtle recommendations. You don't mean that.

I thought Subturtles, whatever it's called, was over. Subturtles will never die. Turns out it's going for my whole life. Subturtles is in our heart. Every day. Every goddamn day. Anyway. Oh, just on a side note, how funny.

Our son wrote on the wall today, not me. Great stuff. Big fan of that. Hilarious. Anyway. We still haven't figured out who did it as well. No, no, it's really unclear. And he just, he was laughing so hard and then got mad.

Anyway, the Long Pond Studio Sessions on Disney Plus is awesome. The what? If you are a Swifty fan. No. That is a Taylor Swift person. I have to admit I was not a Taylor Swift person until folklore and probably until I watched the Long Pond Studio Sessions and now I am obsessed with it.

I've watched it twice. You're recommending it to everyone. I am. Taylor Swift performs every song from her best-selling album Folklore in a truly intimate concert experience accompanied by her co-producers, Aaron Destner from the band The National, who are awesome, and Jack Antonoff from The Bleachers, along with a guest appearance by Justin Vernon, a little dude who's also known as Bon Iver.

It's not Bon Iver, is it? People will be like, you said it wrong, but apparently it is. Anyway, Taylor filmed the event at the historic Longpaw Studios in upstate New York, a setting that evokes the nostalgic, wistful nature of the album. It is so beautiful, this studio. I cannot explain. It's kind of in nature of the album. It is so beautiful, this studio. I cannot explain. It's kind of in like a woodland.

It's just amazing. And in between the live performances, she and her collaborators discussed the creation and meaning behind each song and also shared the challenges and joys of remotely producing this acclaimed and record record-setting collection during lockdown. Oh, I remember lockdown. So there's parts where Taylor was recording vocals and things in her house and then they were recording remotely.

Her and Bon Iver never recorded in the same room. Have they met? And they perform over the internet. What? But it's so interesting too. Like he sort of was sitting even when they did the live performance of it for the film, he's actually in his home studio and she's in the studio

and they still manage to pull it all together. It's beautifully done. And they kind of sit around after having like in between songs having like a very stylised wine or a whiskey around the fire, having a chat. But I just find the genesis of songwriting so interesting and also it's just really beautiful performances and it just makes you fall in love with that album all over again if you are a Swift fan. Also, I just think she's an artist, James, like a real artist.

And I love that. Well, I think like her, you know, the fact that she's endured, that says something, you know. She's a genius. She really is. The way that she can write music that resonates so beautifully and big pop songs, but then also these songs could show she was a country singer initially so they kind of they're not country but they're on the road

towards it so folk and beautiful and deeply connected and I think what's interesting too is you know that Aaron Dessner from The National is an incredible songwriter and his music is incredibly kind of complex and has this beautiful tone to it. And she manages to match his songwriting so perfectly. And I think that that's so fascinating to watch and even listening to them talk about it I found really interesting. It was like they found this kind of really lovely chemistry

in the creation of the music, which I find really interesting. Would you say she's got a collaborative spirit? Definitely. Well, she reached out to them to ask if they'd collaborate with her and I think it was a bold move really in a lot of ways. Obviously it makes like she's one of the number one best-selling artists in the whole world. So obviously it's very financially savvy for them to say yes.

But her style of music she's often thought of as like a pop artist. Still? So not anymore, not after folklore. But it's really interesting that they agreed to do it and how beautifully it all came together. Anyway. Will you ever forgive what Jake Gyllenhaal or Harry Styles did to her? Will you ever forgive them?

Look, it's none of my business. Should he give back the scarf though? Probs. That was weird. Yeah. Yeah. But also. Probably going to stink all over it. He looks smelly. Well, anyway, he gave the world some? Probst, that was weird. Yeah. Yeah, but also. Probably got a stink all over it.

He looks smelly. Well, anyway, he gave the world some beautiful art. So there you go, as in she wrote about it and it was excellent. Sure. Anyway, I also just love the bold choices she makes, like re-recording all of her music so that she could then have the rights to it. I think that's great. Why not?

I just bloody love that as well. Anyway, if you just want to get cosy and listen to some beautiful music, it's on Disney+, Long Pond Studio Sessions. Wow. Loved it. Loved it? Loved it. Okay.

All right. Should we suggest to everybody here a couple of things? First of all, vote for the Weekly Planet on the best podcast in the world. The Australian Podcast Awards is linked below. You have to give them an email, but they're not going to spam you for stuff, I assume. They haven't spammed me anyway. I voted for me, which is illegal. I don't below. You have to give them an email, but they're not going to spam you for stuff, I assume. They haven't spammed me anyway. I voted for me, which is illegal.

I don't know. You had to? I think so. I think you are. No, you are. Yeah, I did vote for myself. I should vote for you as well. You should vote for me.

I'm still jury's out though. Who else will I vote for? All I want to do is win and then make sure I'm not there. So there's an awkward pause and they go, well. Well, I'm probably going to go if you win. Yeah, but it's in Sydney. So I'm like, are you going to go? No, probably not.

You're going to fly to Sydney? I'm hoping to go, but also it's on a Monday night. What were they thinking? We might not win though. Competition is fierce. It is actually incredibly fierce. The Australian Podcasting Awards are no joke, Claire. A lot of people say that they're a joke and it's basically the industry

patting itself on the back. I would never say that. But a lot of people, not me, think that. I think that's rude. Or maybe it's just the industry celebrating all the hard work they do in podcasting. What's wrong with that? Yeah, celebrating.

Jeez, I won't even show you what he was doing with his hands then, listeners. Luckily it's an audio medium. James, you're the worst. Anyway, vote for the Weekly Planet. Woo! Make James' bloody year. Let's win it every year for the rest of time.

Let's ruin this event every year. Who's with me? The worst. Anyway, and the other thing I wanted to talk about is I have album launch coming up. Oh, my God, Cliff. Why did we do this at the top of the show? Oh, should we? Should we go back?

Should we pause and then re-record it? Yeah. At the top. Okay. How about we leave this in, but then what we say afterwards, we'll go at the start of the show. All right. Was that too long?

Nah, it's fine, man. So now we're back in the end of the show. I rabbited on for a long time about the Wesleyan. Everybody heard it. Hey, review the show like Tommy Likes Eggs did. You can do it in app and I'll read your review out. I will do it. This one says 10 stars if I could, but obviously only five stars, Claire,

because you can't give a 10-star review. James and Claire are the best in the business. James and I share a common disdain for all life in general, while Claire brings some hope to the world. Ten out of five experience I would also recommend for the spookiest time of the year, and I'm not just talking about next time, what we do in the shadows. It's like The Office but vampires.

I need to get back to that show. I only watched the first episode, but yes, you are right. Claire, do you have a letter? I do. You can write into the show's just for pot at gmail.com, just like Alan Kerr has. Alan? Hey, Claire and James.

Mostly Claire for this email. Thanks, Alan. Since you've been in such a musical mood recently and since a lot of the artists you've mentioned vibed with the kind of stuff I like, I wanted to recommend some of my favorite current bands that you might like. Alan, you are right up my alley. Thank you so much, mate. First Aid Kit.

I don't know these guys. A pop film duo of two sisters from Sweden. The sweetest, most perfect harmonies you've ever heard. Haim. Now, I do have to say I'm a big fan of Haim. I know you know Haim. Three sisters from California who are as entertaining as people as they are as musicians.

Kind of 70s throwback sound. A lot of fun. I totally agree. The Best. I don't know these guys. New Zealand four-piece who are almost like Courtney Barnett mixed with Weezer. Modern, upbeat pop rock at its finest.

And James, I don't know, that cover of Creep that was in the Social Network trailer, I guess, since as a white man in your late 30s radio head, are your favourite band and you only listen to songs from movies. Thanks for the great podcast and happy listening. Alan from Glasgow. Fantastic. Thank you, Alan from Glasgow.

Glasgow. He actually has also done a lovely thing Where he's listed his favourite songs from each one Oh that's really nice I should read them out very quickly Yeah read them out go First Aid Kit Emmylou

Fireworks Waitress Song Out of My Head Ghost Town Haim The Steps The Wire Gasoline

Now I'm Into It If I Could Change Your Mind I totally agree with those No that's all wrong The Beths Knees Deep Whatever Expert in a Dying Field

Jump Rope Gaze The River Run Level One No, that's all wrong. The Beths, Knees Deep, Whatever, Expecting a Dying Field, Jump Rope Gaze, The River Run, Level One. Thank you so much, Alan. That's such a thoughtful email. I mean, questionable choices. I mean, that's not what I would have done. You didn't listen to a single one. I listen to everything. I'm always about music.

So I can't believe you listened through the whole album. What, am I not going to listen to it? Just be like, no, I didn't do it. It was great, genuinely. I sat there the whole time. Thanks. Thanks very much. No, I really did enjoy it.

I think there's some certified bangers, as they say, Claire. Certified bangers. Oh, well, look, it's been a huge amount of fun to make. That's been the biggest part of it, actually. It's just that, the joy of it. Well, I resent the fun that you have. Loved it. Because I don't find joy in anything.

Yeah, that's accurate. All right, let's get out of here. All right, thank you. We've been to Jess for a podcast. Thank you as always to Rock Hollings for editing this week's episode. Thank you to Maisie for doing us socials. We will see you on the flip side. Will I have read Project Hail Mary?

Probably not. No, I will. I'm going to read more pages. Just don't. I want to find out what happens to his penis tube. And it comes out, doesn't it? Yeah, that's what happens. He spends the rest of the book trying to get it back in.

That's the real Project Hail Mary. Yeah, but it's like, yeah, he's like, this is Hail Mary. But, yeah, it's like getting the toothpaste out of a tube. You can't get it back in. Well, it's such a small hole. I wouldn't know. I don't know why I said that. It's a weird thing to say. Right, bye everyone.

You're weird. You're weird. I'm normal. Everyone thinks I'm normal. You're a normal man. All right.