Suggestible - James and the Tiny House

Episode Date: May 11, 2023

Suggestible things to watch, read and listen to. Hosted by James Clement @mrsundaymovies and Claire Tonti @clairetonti.New music, merch, live show info and much more available at https://www.clairetonti.com/This week’s Suggestibles:03:50 Crunch Labs10:00 Mel Buttle14:26 Danny the Champion of the World by Roald Dahl28:50 O by Damien Rice36:52 Chris Ryan ComedySend 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.

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Hello, it's Suggestible Time. Hello. Rude. Suggestible Podcast is a podcast where we recommend you things to watch, read, and listen to. My name is Claire Tonti. James Clement is here also. We are married. And let's get on with the show, Jim Bob.

I agree. Let's get on with the show. Let's get straight into it. Say hello to the peeps. No, I want to. Can I say one thing first? Stuff around, Claire. Oh, okay.

Let's stuff around for a bit then, shall we? I just want to say a big thank you to everyone that came to the Wesleyan on Sunday. The show was sold out. It was such a fun show. You're welcome, by the way. It was so great. I cried. I laughed.

We sung Shania Twain's Still the One. It was in like a group. It was great. And that was the whole thing you did. That was all you did, right? It was like fairy lights, all the things. I also want to acknowledge, if anybody who was there who hears this, there was a moment when you said, this song is about my husband, are you here and I wasn't there and instead of explaining

maybe why I wasn't there you just went oh and you moved on which makes me look terrible I know I was gonna come with our kids and then she got sick and so I stayed at home. But you just went, well, I guess he didn't show. What a bad guy. I just was nervous because I got a cough halfway through my song Self and I was worried I was going to keep coughing. So I was in a real state of affairs. So you threw me under the bus. No, but I also said you were wonderful and I dedicated a song to you.

So that's good. Yeah. Anyway, if you are interested and you live in Sydney, I have a show that's just been announced. Tickets are on sale. They are over on my Instagram. There's a link below in the show notes. It's at Marrickville, the great club.

It's going to be awesome. Arian, yeah, so Arian Beeston, who is an amazing contemporary dancer, is going to do a duet with me. So she's going to dance to one of my songs, Self, which is going to be really special. And then this incredible woman, Amy Taylor-Kabaz is also coming to do a speech about matrescence, which is going to be really amazing. It's just going to be the funnest, the coolest. And Marrickville is an amazing part of Sydney as well. It's got a really vibrant live music scene. It's very trendy if you are into those such things. A little like

Brunswick Street in Melbourne. Anyway, for those who don't live here, I am planning to go on tour to the UK. It's very exciting, James. Oh, hello. Hi. So I was getting excited. You looked at me like I, because I know this. So I guess I should have had a good reaction. I was like, you're not excited. Oh my God, are you?

I know you're not so excited because you're going to have to hang out with the kids for two weeks while I go to the UK. Oh my goodness. I just have been invited to take my album to perform at a conference in London. And I thought, well, while I'm doing that, I may as well do some shows around the traps. So I'm very excited. I'll be announcing more dates for that soon. It looks like I'll be doing a show in

London on the 2nd of July and then one in Dublin on the 6th of July. Venues to be confirmed. That's all I have for now. So watch this space. It only kind of happened three days ago. So I'm frantically trying to figure out what it will look like and how we will manage it. But yeah, if you have any suggestions for venues, let me know. Email suggestible pod. I would love that. And if you are over there, I would so love to see you. Oh my goodness. This show is not just women. It's not just for parents. It's for everyone. There's stuff about love and loss and heartbreak and all the things, and it's going to be super magic. So I would absolutely love to see your faces over there. That is all. Let's move on.

Let's move on. Would you like me to go first or do you want to go first? I mean, you've already been going for quite a long time, it feels like. Just for three minutes. Three minutes? That's a whole song. You could have sung a song in that time. I know. I already did.

I sung a bing bong song. That's true. And then I also included the title. I don't know if you noticed. Very special. You can go. I feel like I've talked for too long today. I will.

But then you can go after, okay? Oh, thank you. You're so generous. I'm going to recommend something. It's not something that I've ever recommended before. It's not a book or a play or a movie or a TV show or a fake lolly or a walking treadmill, which maybe I'll recommend another week because I have a walking treadmill now. By the way, don't play video games while you're on the walking treadmill

because when I realised that maybe I'm more animated playing video games than I thought and I've nearly fallen off dozens of times. I could have told you that. That's so silly. I didn't realise that I go like and then I'm like and then I'm nearly fallen off but I'm okay. Yeah, you really need to be careful with that. No.

Don't be hurting yourself. No, I don't reckon I will. Anyway, I'm going to recommend something called Crunch Labs. Now people might be familiar with Mark Rober. He's a guy on YouTube. He does like big science stuff. He's like he's a big elephant toothpaste explosion. He does this thing where like he sabotages fake Amazon packages

and leaves them out so when people steal them, like a glitter bomb goes off and stuff like that, and then he films a reaction. So like they take the glitter bomb into the car, not knowing it's a glitter bomb, and they open it and it explodes and then like it sprays like fart spray or whatever and all this kind of stuff so he makes fake packages to stop people from stealing packages or dissuade i should say because it doesn't stop them because they steal it or whatever

so anyway he also has he has a background in a bunch of stuff uh well specifically he's he was a nasa engineer he has uh he recently made a video about his autistic son. He does a lot of good causes for kids and, you know, working with kids with cancer and all that kind of stuff. He seems nice. He's on YouTube so he's probably a psycho. Only, yeah, totally. I know you would hang out with a YouTuber.

Yeah, correct. But, no, by all accounts he seems nice and if he's not, well, then I retract this obviously. But no, so what he's done, he's designed this thing. He was with another company who did a similar thing, but he's gone on his own and made this thing called Crunch Labs where these are boxes designed for kids between 8 and 12, or like any kind of age racket around that area,

to build a toy successfully and independently, learning engineering concepts through play. So what it basically is every month, it's like a subscription service. They send out a box and you don't know what it's going to be and then you open it up and there's like a little QR code and it links to like a video of him explaining like the scientific concepts behind the thing that you're going to make and kind of demonstrating like how this thing is going to work

and how like a bigger version is going to work or whatever like for example the first thing he we built was a little disc spinner it basically like launches like little frisbees and it's got a little motor in you you put it all together um if you know like if your kids have like built like a lego or done like basic art and crafts it's very achievable i've been building them with my son so i think he's probably a little bit too young for it, the science of it I should say because like in the science explaining portion he's a bit like, what is this? What's, you know, I'd have to pause and like explain

like concepts of it. But I actually don't think that's a bad thing either. No, I don't think it's a bad thing at all. I actually think, no, it's a good thing and it's also presented well and entertainingly. So even if you're like, I don't get this like necessarily. It's like it is entertaining and he's always doing like a little fun experiment.

They also show like the prototypes of the previous versions that they've made. Like there's one, the one that we got this month was you get a couple of coin spinners. So, you know, you spin a coin on the table. This is like a, it's almost like a ping pong bat sized thing that can launch a coin and you got two of them and you get two of them in the pack and you can battle them or see who can spin them the furthest or fastest

or whatever, any of those things. But I think the real fun bit of it is the build of it, like finding all the pieces, putting it together, you know what I mean, testing it out for the first time, testing it kind of as you go, like trial and error, seeing what else it can do, you know, like all of these different kinds of things. I just think it's a really – he's not the one who invented this, but I think it's like a really just neat concept.

And even I think the idea of like buying something or getting something that's specific to your kids and what they might be interested in because I looked into it. There's one called like Kiwi Crate, which is like a similar thing. There's one called Bitsbox, which is for kids who are interested in coding. So it's like rudimentary coding and how to get involved in that. There's Little Passports, which is like a craft discovery kind of thing. There's Bake Eat Love, which is like a little baking kind of thing. There's all these different ones that you can get depending on interests. Or maybe you want to try, maybe they're not interested in something and you'd kind of thing. There's all these different ones that you can like get depending on, you know,

interests or maybe you want to try like maybe they're not interested in something and you'd be interested to like, you know, get them involved in something you think they might be interested in. They're not like super cheap, but they're not ridiculous. If you pay for the full year, it's $24.95 US a month. If you do it month to month, which you can, it's $27.95. So you do obviously, this is not a sponsorship, by the way. Again, you could go and buy any of these or none. It's of no interest to me regardless. But no, I think it's just a fun little kind of focused activity you could maybe do with

your kids if you were interested. There's also ways you could do this without ordering the box. You could do this. I mean, people know this, but there's so many like YouTube science or craft or art experiments that you could just do through YouTube, you know, just Google something and it's all there. But what I think is good about this is it's all in the box, like even the batteries, like every component of it is there. You don't need anything additionally. It's all right there. So you don't get it and you're like, okay, I need a couple of A4 batteries or whatever. It's all there, which I think is cool. Anyway, yeah, I would recommend it. We've only had two

so far, but you know, it might be worth looking into if you are so inclined or not. I'm to you, this is recommendations. It's not, you have to do the things that we say. That's what this show is. Often people say we like to listen to all the things. They sound really good. We don't really do them very often, but that's okay. Exactly. No, I actually genuinely think it's a really cool thing to do. Yeah. I think also particularly as we are heading into winter over here as well.

Oh, goodness. Just things that aren't screen time. Yeah, exactly. That is learning and interacting. I mean there's a little bit of screen time because there's a video. Oh, yeah, that's true. But it's like a five, ten-minute video. The bulk of it is like the hour or so it'll take to build.

To build it, yeah, and he's just loved it. So thank you so much for finding that. All right, my turn? Yeah, man. Cool. I have a really fun thing to recommend this week. James, have you heard of the Australian comedian Melinda Buttle? I have heard of Mel Buttle, yes.

Yeah, so she is hilarious and wonderful. She actually hosts the great Australian Bake Off with Claire Hooper. Yeah, I've never seen – I've seen clips of the Bake Off but the British one, not the Australian one. Yeah, correct. Well, this is exactly the British one but just the Australian one. It's really excellent. The reason I'm recommending her, and I'll go into her backstory

a little bit in a minute, is because I discovered her through these videos that she does of this character called Lynn who is loosely based on her mum but but also on everyone's mum. And they're just so clever and so funny and so familiar. I don't know if it will translate if you live in other countries. I feel like my gut feeling is it absolutely will. There's just so many videos that she has. Mum's a pretty universal. Yeah, it's just, well, they're not though. This is the thing, but this is the particular character is so endearing. She's charismatic.

She kind of wears, somehow Mel is in her 30s, but she kind of gives off the vibe of being in her 50s. Especially in those videos. Yeah. There's a way that like even the camera's positioned it. So she's got this sort of like double chin thing. She's always wearing like a cardigan. Her hair's always in this like particular like messy ponytail kind of vibe

where she's got her glasses on. And it's just what I love about it too is that she's captured this character of a woman who clearly adores her kids. Yes. And is constantly worried about them. They're adult kids now and just like the minutia of that kind of family life. Yeah. And also I love how she's also petty as well.

Like she has petty feuds with her neighbours that have gone on for ages. She's like sort of passive aggressively asking questions like if you go shopping with her and she's like, what about Navy? Navy? Like there's just so many little subtle choices that she makes of moments where you can see yourself in it even like you know take a panadol have you had a glass of water like if

you're complaining you're feeling sick you know that kind of stuff but at the heart of it I initially I didn't really like want to watch them because I thought well it's kind of just making fun of women of that age bracket yeah and it's and you've seen that like a lot of that has been done. Yeah, exactly. And it's not funny to me. I think it's more like, yeah, poking fun at someone for spending their life and being a very domestic person who loves, you know, cooking and loves that kind of idea of really caring about their kids

and being very homely as a person. Sure. Isn't the idea of feminism that you choose what you want to do? Yeah, exactly. And I just think she does it so well. I saw Mel interviewed about it and they kind of asked her about it in this way that was like, well, you're making fun of mothers. And she's like, not at all.

I'm not making fun of my mum. It's kind of a dedication to her. I don't feel it comes across that way. I think they're just like, she's unconsciously so funny as well. And so good hearted. At the center of it is always this real care for the people in her family and her life. And even though sometimes it's quite petty or whatever, it's also so spot on. So I just loved them. She's brilliant in lots of other things as well. She's written as well. So she's a comedy writer. I didn't realise this when I went back to have a look. She was a comedy writer for Ronnie Chang's International Student.

Oh, what's that? I like that. Yeah, it's really good. On the drum, ABC3's You're Skidding Me, Please Like Me as well with Josh Thomas. Oh, yep, yep. Yeah, and Network 10's This Week Live. Yeah, so she's also been on The Project and lots of other things.

She's also an amazing stand-up comedian in her own art with her own show. I don't think I've seen her show actually. That's one thing I have not seen. Yeah, it's really great. She also has been on the radio as well a lot with Tom and Alex on Triple J Breakfast. And, yeah, obviously hosts The Greatest Only Bake Off. So she's an amazing comedian and writer anyway,

but this series on Instagram I think has taken her into a whole other level and it's so endearing. And when I'm feeling down, I'm having a glum day, sometimes I just find myself searching for those videos. Yeah, right, yeah. They're just so comforting and funny and silly. You ever go and look somewhere like, oh, I hope they've got a good new video and then you're like, oh.

Yeah, yeah, that happens with hers. But often if there's a new one, I'm like, oh, excellent. I love it so much. So, yeah, I would highly recommend going to her Instagram account. It's called Melinda Battle. Yeah, okay. And I would totally recommend going and giving Instagram account. It's called Melinda Buttle. Yeah, okay. And I would totally recommend going and giving her a follow because you'll see what I mean.

I don't know if I've done a very good job explaining them, but you'll see what I mean as soon as you watch the first one. It just hits in the right spot. Sounds like you've done an excellent job explaining it. Your turn. Well, I'm going to recommend another Roald Dahl book because we're on a bit of a kick at the moment of doing those. And mine, yes, I know, like I've talked about before,

like problematic of his era in a lot of ways, progressive in some and not in others, et cetera. So I just want to preface it by saying that and, you know, we've talked about how like the idea that they were censoring his books and like this is the woke left coming to cancel Roald Dahl, which is like no, that's just the publishing company looking to sell more books and drum up some marketing. Anyway, to get like, no, that's just the publishing company looking to sell more books and drum up some marketing.

Anyway, forget all that, Claire. I'm going to recommend this book that people probably know it's called. Here he goes. It's one of my favourite ones of his. I like his supernatural ones, but I like his like real, like down-to-earth kind of ones, and this I think is one of my favourites, especially now also because I myself, Claire, as you might be familiar, am a dad.

What? Yes. Oh, my goodness. It's true. No, you should make an Instagram account for James Clement and then make dad videos. And I'm like, I'm a dad. I'm a normal dad.

Anyway, dad life. Anyway. Off he goes. I won't make fun of mums, but I will make fun of dads all goddamn day, Claire. Excellent. Because I'm sexist. Anyway, so this book is from 1975. It's called Danny the Champion of the World.

So Danny the Champion of the World, or simply Danny apparently, is a 1975 book by Roald Dahl. The plot centers on Danny, a young English boy, and his father, William, who live in a caravan, fix cars for a living in their mechanic shop, and partake in poaching pheasants. So what I really like about this book is it's like a slice of life of these two people that live together, a father and son.

It does have that trope of like the mother, she's died, she's dead. Claire, she's not in it. You always do that. She died. Someone has to die. Someone's got to go. Someone has to be dead. Someone has to be an orphan.

All the Disney movies do that to you. They love it. Got to up the stakes. Have you heard the feedback for the new Little Mermaid movie? People are loving it. People are saying it's magical. Has it come out here? In like two weeks maybe.

I'm so excited. I know you are for some reason. It's your Indiana Jones 5. Do you know Mason keeps trying to quell my love and excitement for Indiana Jones 5? Keeps trying to step on it. How dare he? I know.

Killer of your joy. He can't though. You find joy in very little. Exactly. How can he stomp out that tiny spark? No, it's a funny thing. He thinks he can but he can't. He's always running at me with it but he can't stop me.

He can't stop you. You're unstoppable. Every time it comes up, he's just trying to squish me. But he can't. He would, he would. He's like, remember King of the Crystal Skull? And I'm like, of course I do. But this is a new director, I say.

This is from the director of Logan and Ford v Ferrari. And Ford v Ferrari is the ultimate dad movie. Race cars, man. Why did you say it like that? Race cars, man. I should get that on a T-shirt. Well, I hope you enjoy The Little Mermaid. Apparently the lead, whoever plays Halle Bailey, I think her name is,

is really good. Anyway. Hi, I'm Jessie Cruikshank from the number one comedy podcast, Phone a Friend, which I strongly advise you listen to. You know what else I suggest you look into? Becoming a host on Airbnb. Did you like that segue? Thank you.

I recently started putting my guest house on Airbnb when I'm out of town, and I didn't realize how easy it would be until I did it. If you have a spare room, you could Airbnb it, or your whole place could be an Airbnb. It's a great way to make a little extra money by doing not a lot, which frankly is my mantra in 2024. To learn more, go to airbnb.ca slash host. So what I like about Dating the Champs of the World, it's the real world, but it does have this kind of magical kind of wonderment and wondrousness and exploration about it despite being mostly set in like reality, 1975. So the father and son, they run this, you know,

this little mechanic shop together. They live really simply, which I love. They've just got this little caravan. They've got like a little paraffin burner which they make their meals on. You know, they spend their, like he goes to school and then his dad walks him to and from school. And then they like tinker with cars together and go on little adventures and go down to the stream and walks in the countryside

and all that kind of stuff. It's got really great descriptions of like food and landscapes and just that idea of like simple living. And I know you know this about me, Claire, but I love a tiny house. You are obsessed with a tiny house. And my dream is one day is to buy a block of land out of the way of stuff, maybe down the beach, maybe with some warmer weather, and just put a tiny little like shipping container house on it

and just live there. Let me tell you. By myself. Yeah, exactly. I am not in this dream. It's just him. No, you wouldn't want to live. What about the dogs? No dogs. Well, the dogs would be dead by then, I'm not in this dream. It's just him. No, you wouldn't want to live. What about the dogs?

No dogs. Well, the dogs would be dead by then, I assume. And what am I doing? I don't know. No, you can come live with me. I'm dead too. This is why you brought that up before about the dead mum storyline. That's right.

I think it would be a cool thing to like have a little retirement tiny house, maybe a normal house and then a second tinier house down by the beach. Kind of like you have already with the studio in my garden but just further away from the big house. You can't even clutter it because it's so small so you just got to like and like everything. There's a tiny house YouTube channel which I love where they go in and go, ooh, this is a particularly tiny house.

It feels so spacious and I'm like, yeah, I like this. This is great. You just like really small enclosed spaces. I do. Maybe I'll talk about tiny house YouTube at some point. Also, lucky you're not too tall of a man so you can fit in a tiny house. No, I'm fine, man. I feel like they must have to make specifically tiny houses

for taller people. Well, yeah, oftentimes they do have height like to them. It's just like a condensed living area where you've got like your kitchenette and like maybe and then like maybe a bathroom and a little living space. You could get a caravan. No, I don't want to move anywhere, Claire. I want to stay.

Okay. And then you might be like a tiny set of stairs or like a ladder up to like a mezzanine and it's just like a bed and like that's it and that would be like the bedroom and it's all like one open tiny house space. I love it. I love it, Claire. It's basically like a doll's house. Yeah, basically like a little Hobbit home.

Yeah, actually, to be fair, I'm so on board with that. I've always wanted to live in like Hobbitville. Oh, man, I love that Hobbiton part of Lord of the Rings. I love that. And like having recently read The Hobbit as in have Andy Serkis read it to me in audiobook form, like the descriptions of that and that idea of like living in like that little kind of community and like all the little things that happen on and the little feuds that you have in the town and like,

you know what I mean? Sounds like living in our hometown. Yeah, sort of. But it's all just like really kind of off the grid and like, okay. But, you know, I also love going on the internet and being like, fuck you. You're nothing if not a string of conundrums and what's the word for it? I'm trying to think of it.

Contradictions? Thank you. Oh, you did it. You're nothing if not contradictory. So the idea is that they want to, they've got like a local enemy. So I love that. Yes, this is in the Roald Dahl book. Yes.

Okay, good. Just reminding everyone because we're on a real tiny house tangent. We did. And he's like a sinister kind of snooty guy who owns like most of the land in the town and has like a pheasant shooting party every year and he wrongs them. He barongs them. That is not a word.

No, he does. He barongs them. That is not a word. You, it does. He barongs them. That is not a word. You're baronged for saying that. And then so they kind of hatch this scheme. I'm bright. Yeah. You're bright.

Aw. There we go. That's great. I love that. I like that. That was good. Thank you. So they want to kind of ruin his fancy pheasant hunting thing that he does

every year because of this thing that he does to Danny and his dad. So British. Or this series of things. It's very British. They're always hunting a bird, a pheasant, a fox. Always hunting a bird. They're always in a forest hunting something. Yeah.

Or turning into birds. I love that story, The Magic Finger. The Magic Finger, yeah. So good. So it does get into like the specifics of like poaching and the methods that they use and they seem quite frankly like they would not work. But it doesn't matter.

It's kind of the fun of it. And what do I do i know i've never posted a goddamn thing in my life danny's dad's kind of one one of those like magical parents where he's got a lot he tells him danny's like story every stories every night before bed of like magical worlds and whatever and it's interesting because one of the stories that he tells is the bfg uh how this guy goes around and he and and he like shoots dreams into your bedroom with a big trumpet and whatever. And that was like five to seven years before he actually wrote the BFG. Oh, that is so interesting.

Yeah, so the inception of the BFG is this story. So it's like the BFG is like a story within Danny the Champion of the World where the BFG is like a more famous, well-known story. I know Spielberg recently did a version of it which you saw? I did. Was it good? People like it but it didn't do well.

Okay. It was good but I loved that book. Yeah. And I just don't think if you have read a book like that, especially as a kid and you just have built this world in your head of it. Yeah. And nothing will ever do it justice. But I enjoyed it. Yeah.

I mean, I like Mark Rylance who's in that as well. I always struggled even as a kid and now the BFG, which is the way the BFG speaks. Oh. And when you're reading that because he's kind of, like he kind of talks like that. Yeah. And reading that and also reading it out loud, it like clashes with my brain. Oh, see, I like that. Yeah. And reading that and also reading it out loud,

it like clashes with my brain. Oh, see, I love that. But I think that's because I love sounds and syncopated rhythms and that kind of thing. And so it really sits well with me. I think I love the story of the BFG as well. The BFG. Correct.

Because for me the world feels a lot like that with this idea of like ideas that have followed me around me like dreams. And I know when I'm songwriting, that's how I feel. Like these sort of these like jellyfish kind of like clouds almost, which I don't know, you have to kind of draw in. And I love the idea that some ideas or some dreams are difficult and scratchy and cheeky and hard to catch and others will come really easily.

Some are frightening and some are colourful and some are sparkly and some are clear and some are beautiful. And I just have always felt a real affinity to that story because that's how I feel about these ideas and sounds and music that's kind of followed me around since I was a kid. Yeah. And in songwriting, that's what I love the most about it. I've often talked about it like fishing for jellyfish.

And stay with me because I know it sounds a bit insane. I just, I love, I love that idea. And I also just love the sort of fatherly, funny, quirky nature of the BFG as well. Yeah. In my head as a kid, I always imagined Roald Dahl was very similar to the BFG. Yeah, I think there's definitely an element of him. Yeah, kind of this like magical, very tall. Racist.

Yeah, well, exactly. Look, nothing's perfect, is it? No. And some are definitely not perfect at all. But anyway, yeah, so I have a real deep love actually of that book. Sure. So I like the movie. I think there's probably like a lot of your dad in that character as well.

Yeah, definitely. I like the movie. I think it's probably like a lot of your dad in that character as well. Yeah, definitely. Just a little bit mysterious too but heartfelt and funny and can be very serious and dark. Yeah, because very dark as well. There's an element which is what I think Roald Dahl does really well is this element that's very dark at the same time

as being very light and fun. Yeah. And so I also just love the idea of escaping and going out your bedroom window to another world, which I know kids do in general, right? Like so many Peter Pan, all of those stories. It's an adventure. Totally. But really, yeah, I've just thought a lot about that.

Yeah, love it. I love that idea. And I genuinely do think that songs have personalities like dreams. Yeah, definitely. Yeah. Or ideas. I feel like it must be the same for people. And what's interesting to me too about this is that this thing

that I've felt in my head for a really long time since I was a kid, I've then read other artists or creatives or songwriters talk about ideas or songs in the same way, which is wild to me. Yeah. Because that means that it's not, it's universal. Yeah. And so this thing that I just thought was a quirk of my personality, and I just think that's so mysterious and magic.

Yeah. Which is, you know, depressing, but also kind of fascinating to me because it makes me just think more and more about how mysterious and magic the world is and how so much of creativity we don't really understand. Like I know Tom Waits, I read an interview in Elizabeth Gilbert's book, Big Magic, which I've talked about incessantly before. And I always go back to that book when I'm writing something and I'm really struggling.

It just always helps. But there's an interview she does with Tom Waits where he talks about his songs like that, like birds. Yeah. Or like some are like digging potatoes out of the ground and others are like sort of sucking a dream through a straw or others again are so flighty or crackly or difficult and sometimes he'll talk to his songs and be like,

this album is about to leave. He'll clear the studio out of everyone and say, this album is about to leave the station. You need to jump on board otherwise we can't have you on this train. And sometimes the song won't make it on there because it just is too difficult and it doesn't want to be on there. But I just love that idea of ideas being kind of sentient and mysterious and magical.

Yeah. Anyway. Thank you for tying that back to songwriting, Claire, and your personal music experience. I don't know how you do it, to be honest. It's kind of wild. I know. It's almost like I'm obsessed with songwriting,

a little like you tie everything back to Indiana Jones. How dare you? Are you trying to also quell my love for the new Indiana Jones movie? Never. I would never do that to you. I love you. I don't believe you. I wouldn't do that to you.

You and Mason, two peas in a very negative pod. Two of the people that you are closest to in the world subtly undermining you. Subtly. It doesn't feel subtle. Is it my turn to talk about my thing or have you still got some things to say? Not yet. There's one more thing I wanted to say.

There is a telemovie they did in the 80s with Jeremy Irons is the dad and Robbie Coltrane. You know Robbie Coltrane? He's Hagrid. Yes, yes, yes. He's the bad guy in it. In Danny of the Chalk. Yeah, and I want to watch it. But also, I'd love if somebody like did a new adaptation

but I think the problem with some of the new adaptations that I've seen or seen clips of like The Witches, for example, and what I've seen of the BFG and even Matilda to a lesser extent is that there's a big kind of energy and a real kind of CGI kind of swirl happening about them. Like I know the BFG, like that guy's completely digital. Like it's Mark Rylance but it's like he's a digital character and I don't like that kind of hyper-reality that they're currently bringing to a lot of the, except for Matilda I would say, which I don't like the look of it.

And I think you would, like this movie would work as like a, almost like a Midsommar Murders kind of real low-key setting, you know what I mean? Yeah, yeah. And have elements of like unreality to them, I guess, but just keep it really, and I don't know whether that would even do well for that reason because it would be too kind of, yeah, just a bit too simple maybe. And it's not because you, how do you market that movie as well?

You know what I mean? Anyway, now I'm just getting into the specifics of a movie that nobody is making. Anyway, now it is your turn. Yay. All right. So I have a recommendation of an album, which I'm sure many people are familiar with. Well, anyway, it came out in 2003, so maybe not. Do you remember Damien Rice?

Yeah. Yeah, amazing. Nine Crimes? Yes, yes. Did he ever get done for those nine crimes? Did they ever catch him? I don't know. Or is he still on the run?

He's still on the run for the nine crimes. I wanted to talk specifically about an album that has meant a lot to me, which I'm sure has meant a lot to a lot of people. So it's not unique. It's called Oh. Do you remember that album? Yes. Yeah. So one of the reasons I love it so much, it was his debut studio album.

So I went deep diving after I started re-listening to this album because I love The Blower's Daughter, which is one of the most famous songs. Is that from that album? It is, yeah. It is, yeah. I'm just bringing up the list. And Cannonball are probably the two most famous ones. And then Volcano was another single on there.

But Blower's Daughter and Cannonball are probably the two most well-known. What year is this, like 2004? 2003, as I said. Originally released in February 2002. Yeah. What I found interesting about this is actually, as I'm sure a lot of artists will say, it's a whole art piece in and of itself. And Damien Rice, before he released this, was previously a member of the band Juniper

that disbanded due to changes in creative direction. And so he took a sabbatical in rural Italy before returning to Ireland. And there he sort of wrote these songs very quickly in one go. And he met with his second cousin with these songs, who's a composer, David Arnold, He met with his second cousin with these songs, who's a composer, David Arnold, who loved them, but then he took the demo to publishers and there was just no success. No one wanted a bar of it. Right.

Why? Well, I don't know. Because it's not overly produced, it's not commercial in that the songs are. That's funny because, like, it is. It's giant. It was giant. It's like smashy. It ended up being a smash hit. But what's interesting about it is it's an album you would listen

to in its entirety if you're going through a breakup, if you're going through a hard time, if you're, I don't know, walking through the bush, chilling out at home. Each track isn't one you'd necessarily put on while in a coffee shop or even have radio play because it's got really, really quiet, almost silent moments and then it goes really big. Do you think it's like, as you mentioned, it's not even really the kind of album that you would put like one song in like a Spotify list, you'd listen to like the whole thing?

Yeah, correct. I know you mentioned it being like a piece. Yeah, yeah, exactly right. And so that's I'm assuming one of the reasons why they couldn't, they didn't get any bites from publishers because it wasn't overly polished and commercial. Yeah. So then instead Arnold worked with Rice to set up a recording studio

in their home and they made it independently. Oh, really? Which is I think why it's so special because the way it's recorded even, I re-listened to it and I loved The Blower's Daughter and Cannonball, but there was actually so many other tracks I loved. There's one called Older Chests, which actually the title of the album I thought was zero, but it's actually O. Yeah.

Because in that song, Amy, that's on the album as well. So the song Older Chests has kind of this clever undercurrent of voices in it, almost like murmuring, which is really cool. But then in the song Amy, where the title of the album comes from, he talks about sitting with Amy on a wall and read me the story of O. And the story of O is actually a really dark kind of twisted book about sexuality and submission. And it's quite a famous, very dark sort of story.

I've never heard of this book. But that's where the title of the album kind of comes from and it's also obviously a circle. Oh, the dog's in here. There's a lot of different meanings that you can read into it. Yeah, but what's so cool about that is, yeah, they recorded it at home and Damien Rice was also saying that some of the songs he wrote held off for weeks and weeks and then recorded in one take or sometimes he'd even record two or three in one evening.

And you can hear the rawness in the album. So it was almost like he was waiting to be ready or for them to be ready. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Or for him to be ready to get into that emotional space. And what, so one of the reasons. So we're being harassed by dogs. We're being harassed by dogs. So one of the reasons that I started listening to it is I saw this old

YouTube video come up, I think it was an ad for his current tour, of him singing Delicate in this beautiful warehouse. I'm so delicate. Don't touch me, I'll break. It's so annoying. Anyway, but it's such an incredible song. The strings in this album are really beautiful. And I know it's probably corny in spots.

It's an old record. I'm sure people would say that it's, you know, not that original necessarily. But to me, he captures something so raw and so personal and intimate in it. Yeah, right. That I think is the reason why it did so well. Are you going to go see this Damien Rice fellow?

I would love to, yeah. I think he's on at the Arts Centre. It depends on if I've got time. One other thing I didn't realise about this album was that it's actually dedicated to his friend Christopher who died of a head injury in 2001. Yeah. Yeah, which is just enough. How did he get the head injury?

I know. It didn't say online. I had a look around but I couldn't find any more of the backstory to it. To me that sounds like that fight in the street kind of. It kind of does. I don't know whether that's true. Doesn't it? Yeah.

I don't know because also the album, I found it then because I actually have it. You have it on CD. Well, I found a bunch of CDs the other day and was like, do you want any of these CDs? Yeah, I loved them. I've still got them. I'm keeping them. But also the artwork is like sort of original drawings and scratchings

and then photography. And that's something else I really loved about CDs and what I'm sad about with streaming, that we don't get that kind of art anymore. That dog is up to something. She's suspicious. What are you up to out here? Get back to work. People don't know our dogs actually have jobs.

They work for us. Well, it's more of a tax write-off. Anyway, go on. Correct. Anyway, all I would say is if you haven't heard the album, I would definitely recommend it. I have heard it but I will re-hear it. Yeah, I think it's just a really beautiful one to listen to,

particularly if you're going for a walk or something and listen to it from start to finish. It's got a real arc to it. And once you kind of know this backstory about it, I think it adds to it as well. You realise how boring it is. How old is Daniel Rice? He'd have to be at least mid-40s.

You would think so, yeah. He is 67 years old. No, he's 49. 49, wow. There you go. Yuck. Really, it's just a really beautiful album. So it's called O by Damien Rice.

Oh! Yay, all right. So have you got a review for us? Or is it called this? Oh! All right. It's what Vin Diesel says. Don't worry about it. That's a joke from my other podcast, it called this? Ooh. All right. It's what Vin Diesel says. Don't worry about it.

That's a joke from my other podcast, which you might be familiar with, Claire. It's called The Weekly Planet. Ever read a book? Don't know what you're talking about. It's not in any books. Haven't heard about it, mate. Here we go. It's time for reviews.

And I say that because people, they're often kind enough to leave us a five-star review. And I love it. I love that element of the thing that this. And they say, James, here's my review. What is happening here? Get to the review, man. Get to the review. This is from Johnny Paul 12 who says, best podcast ever, five stars.

Thank you so much. My husband and I have been listening to this podcast, which we learned about through James' More Successful Podcast. That's funny. We were just talking about that for almost a year and we love it so much. Had to come on and thank James for recommending two amazing shows on Netflix, Heartstopper, which is coming back soon, I think. Oh, it's good.

And Kunk on Earth, the most heartwarming and hilarious, but despectively, things that we've seen in a long time. So funny. We love James and Claire and May so, so much that we've been inspired to start our own podcast while watching movies we've never seen. Titled appropriately, What Do You Mean You've Never Seen? It's a great title. I'm going to steal that.

That's mine now. Starting a new podcast is a lot of work but no matter how busy we get, we always make time for The Weekly Planet and Suggestible. Keep up the great work, folks. Thank you. And when is Claire going to read that book? Oh, yeah, good question. Who knows?

Probably Nev's. No, I will. We put a date on it. We did. I can't remember but people have been sporadically reminding me and I appreciate you. All right, so maybe I'll read it on the plane to the UK. Oh, I'm going to the UK. Oh my gosh. Can you imagine? I'm so excited. I can't wait. Can I imagine the UK? I just can't

wait to meet some listeners. Sure. I'm so excited. All right. Anyway, this is an email from a wonderful person called Jake Simpson. He sent it on May the 4th. May the 4th be with you, Jake. Hello, James and Claire. I've got a recommendation that I reckon might suit both of you. I saw Chris Ryan last year at the Grapes of Mirth Festival, comedy at a winery, a genius idea, and fell in love with her style of comedy. She's just released her 2021 show on YouTube and it's great.

Chris Mirth. Chris Ryan. It was the Grapes of Mir Merth. Chris Ryan. Oh. It was the Grapes of Merth Festival. Ah. Chris Ryan is the comedian. Claire, I think you'll resonate with her views on being a mum and raising two kids to teenagers and all of that jazz. James, she's angry about how much stuff you need to know these days

and keep track of and how everything sucks, which you're always on about. That's true. And I don't even have a real life or job. Look, I'm not the most articulate person. I disagree, Jake, and I wish I could sell it better. But after having you two in my ears for however long this podcast has been going for, watching her special, my first thought was, hey, there's something in this for my parasocial friends.

Jake and Claire, we love being your parasocial friends, Jake. So I felt the need to send this email. Love the show. Thank you especially to Claire whose book recommendations have been a great idea for gifts for my partner. Haven't had a bad review of them yet. Cheers, Jake. Jake, do not worry.

I have more recommendations coming your way for books very soon. Jake, she's lying. She can't even read that one book she's supposed to read. She's out of book recommendations. That's because you recommended that to me, whereas I've got a whole lot I want to recommend. Anyway, doesn't matter. I have many. All right. That's the name of the show. Thank you so much to Rock, whereas I've got a whole lot I want to recommend. Anyway, doesn't matter. I have many. All right.

That's the name of the show. Thank you so much to Rock Hollings for editing this week's episode. Thank you for Maisie for running our socials. How does he do it? Thank you for James Clement for being here. Yeah. Don't forget to buy tickets if you're in Sydney to my show on the 30th of July. I will be there.

And if you are in the UK, I'm coming over there. I'm coming, James. Get ready. Get ready. Get set. Love that. Anyway, email in if you have any suggestions of places I should visit. And'm coming, James. Get ready. Get ready. Get set. Love that. Anyway, email in if you have any suggestions of places I should visit and that's it.

That's it. Next week, same show. Same show. Different time. Same show. No, same time. Same time, same place, same show. That's right.

All right, I'm off to have some lunch. I'm hungry. Bye. I think you're so good with your food. Yeah, I am. Okay, can we talk? Yeah, no, this is it. Oh, sorry.

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