Suggestible - New Interview with a Vampire & The White Lotus

Episode Date: December 1, 2022

Suggestible things to watch, read and listen to. Hosted by James Clement @mrsundaymovies and Claire Tonti @clairetonti.Visit bigsandwich.co for a bonus weekly show, exclusive movie commentaries, early stuff and ad-free podcast feeds for $9 per month.This week’s Suggestibles:00:00 Behind the Scenes of Claire's Music Video07:33 The White Lotus Season Two28:51 Interview with a Vampire (2022)39:49 Lost Peatlands Project42:20 The Uplift Saga by David Brin42:37 Monk and Robot Series by Becky ChambersSend 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.

Hey folks, it's Mark Maron from WTF. I travel all over North America doing stand-up and it's always good to know Airbnb is an option when I'm away from home. But if you're away from home, why not take your own place and Airbnb it? Airbnb your whole home to make some extra cash. Or if you have a spare room that's not in use, just Airbnb that. Whether you could use extra money to cover some bills or for something a little more fun, your home might be worth more than you think. Find out how much at airbnb.ca slash host. Bing, bong, bing, bong, bing, bong, bing, bong, bing, bong, bing, bong, bong, bong, bong, bong, bong. Hello.

It's a festival. It certainly is. That went for a long time, didn't it? It was the second time. I'm still feeling weird, but let's soldier on. Let's do it. I am Claire Tonti, James Clement, and he's here also. We are married, and we recommend you things to watch, read, and listen to.

And I'm really excited to be here. I have my little fiddly thing from my fiddle box. Very good. I've got the wheel. You've got your drink. Have you opened it already? I've already opened this drink. Oh, you haven't opened it on the show.

What even is this podcast anymore? The wheels are already coming off. The wheels. Now, James, it is getting to that time of year. It's the most wonderful time of the year. As you know, I love Christmas. I significantly have, I don't know if you've noticed this, usually the Christmas tree is up by like the 20th of November.

It's still not out of the box. It's indicative of how much has gone on for me. Why would it need to be out of the box though if it's like late November when we're recording this at least? Well, that's because technically it should be up by now. People put it up. They put it up after Thanksgiving in the old US of A. It goes up in December.

I know, but usually, James, I like to eek as much Christmas tree as possible and I put it up after Thanksgiving in the old US of A. It goes up in December. I know, but usually, James, I like to eek as much Christmas joy as possible and I put up early. No, what you're doing is you're making Christmas worse by making it go for longer. All right. Christmas should be short and sharp. It should go for four hours on Christmas Day and everybody packs everything in their bin.

All I'm saying is I'm really struggling to find Christmas joy because I've been absorbed by other things. Usually I hyper-focus on Christmas. I don't know if you've noticed that. No, I've noticed. But this year I've got no Christmas zhuzh. I'm not even hosting Christmas. One year we hosted both our families here, back to back.

That was the worst thing that's ever happened. Was that last year or the year before? It was the year before. That's how much I love Christmas. We had a newborn that year. I haven't even listened to a Christmas carol. I go to the shops, I get shocked that there are Christmas carols and it's almost December. I get shocked because time and space has ceased to be relevant for me

because I'm deep in making music videos. You know what I like about what I've done to make Christmas more bearable for myself? I do like the day as well. I like everybody getting together, like the food and the presents and the family and whatever, et cetera. Fuck, you know, all that shit. But I like now that I tell our son and we'll say our daughter, together like the food and the presents and the family and whatever, et cetera, blah, fuck, you know, all that shit. Oh, lovely.

But I like now that I tell our son and we'll say to our daughter, if you've got kids in the car, don't worry, no Santa spoilers, that there's some presents from Santa, there's some from us. And I'm very clear that, like, this one is from us. The good one. We did this. Not Santa. This was me.

Okay. So last year I didn't ever publish it, but I wrote an article about a massive rant I had about Santa and how misogynistic it is and about all of the women for all of the years who have done all of the work at Christmas and then who takes the credit? An old fat dude. Absolutely. Who doesn't? No, stop.

You can't say that. You have to bleep that, Collings, because of Christmas spoilers. But, yeah, I understand that somebody else takes credit for your Christmas day. It's just the ultimate in patriarchy. Like, honestly, it's so insane. And what I find really great is that because you also buy the presents because in a lot of structures traditionally women have been doing it. Sure.

Other than obviously Santa who is definitely real. You like because we share it now, you're like, no, as if I'm letting some other guy take the credit. Yeah, absolutely. Which is actually incredibly logical and it's so strange. It's so strange to me except it's not when you think about the history of patriarchy and all the unseen work that women have been doing. I know.

And look, I'm all for like a fun thing and a bit of magic and all that. You know how much I love magic and Christmas. Yeah, I know. I know. I completely agree. I know except I've lost it at the moment because to me time is not a thing at the moment. It's very strange.

You need to be visited by a ghost who's like, stop it. The ghost is like, be nice. I start looking at me like, why haven't you put up the Christmas tree yet? Because it's not December. That's why. No, but you don't understand. Usually I am the first in the house to get there and I just can't find it. I've lost my Christmas something anywhere.

I'm not even looking forward to the duet that we're going to be doing, surely, not on this episode. Don't worry, everyone. But it will be coming. It's a coming. It's in the Bruin. Is it actually a duet or are you going to take a regular Christmas song and split the lyrics? I'm not telling you.

That was the deal we made last time that I wouldn't make you do anymore except for one a year. Maybe I'll do the Christmas song when you read the book that you're supposed to be reading. Oh, yeah, that's happening. Yeah. Oh, yeah. It'll happen. Yeah. Oh, yeah. It'll happen.

As I said, time is a construct. It's not a construct, though, is it? Look, I'm very tired. Somebody left a review. I'll read it out today. And semi also potentially now a film star. So, you know, I'm busy. Anyway, the point is time is not a construct.

It's like a thing that happened. It's not like it's not imagined. Like time moves forward. I know. I know. It's just for me, it like suspends. I can't explain it other than that it like suspends when I'm really like deep into something. Great.

Which I currently am. I have to say, James. Yeah? I don't think you've been excited enough by the fact that I am in a music video. What? What do you want me to do? the fact that I am in a music video. What? What do you want me to do? What do you want? I want a celebration.

You can celebrate however you want. I want you to say gorgeous. That's what I want you to say. I want you to say gorgeous. No, I'm not going to say it. Gorgeous. I'm not going to say it. You are a goddamn star welder.

No, that is, you're too early. You've jumped the gun. When, should I say if that happens, then I will congratulate you, but not before. I like to feel I've been very supportive and very complimentary. You're coming with me with this. It doesn't mean anything if I say it now either. What's funny to me is that you've spent the whole year while I've been

making this music being like I'm so proud of you. And every time you say I'm so proud, I'm like you don't even mean it. Exactly. And now you're like say this. So no, I'm not going to say it. Anyway, we should do our recommendations. I know we should. I just want to say this one last thing.

There's some content if you're interested on my Instagram about the behind the scenes. We're like six minutes into this. I know. And Collings has been doing a wonderful job. He's editing together some footage behind the scenes. We're like six minutes into this. I know. And Collings has been doing a wonderful job. He's editing together some footage behind the scenes for me. Anyway, there's a little bit of footage and I wanted you to look at it and be like, damn, you look great, Claire.

I'm such an egomaniac at the moment. I'm a genuine narcissist at the moment. It's awful because all I'm doing is like thinking about the thing that I've made and thinking about all the things I have to make for it. Anyway, and then I just showed it to you and you were like, yeah, it's you with the camera panning around. Yeah, it's good. And I think I was like, where's my gorgeous, gorgeous you've done well.

I'll do it when you least expect it. Then I'll fall over. At your funeral. I'll be like, you least expect it. Then I'll fall over. At your funeral. I'll be like, you know what? She was gorgeous in hindsight. Probably should have told her that. What are you doing? Anyway, enough.

Colleen, you can edit out some of this. Anyway, let's move on to the actual things we're doing for this show, which is recommendations. Would you like to go first or is it my turn? We can talk about the white lotus together. Shall we do that first? Yeah, let's do it. All right, let's jump in.

Jumpity, jumpity, jumpity. Are those your notes? Yes, don't judge me. I don't know why, but when I was copying and pasting things, it all just went bold and underlined. I don't have time to fix it. Do you know how to fix it? I can fix it for you.

I don't need it. It's fine. Let's just move on. This is how fast I'm doing things at the moment. It's quite terrifying. You highlight everything and you right-click it and you go clear formatting. All right, yep. Anyway, let's move on.

So The White Lotus, as you may remember if you watched the previous one, was set in Hawaii. It is a TV show on binge. Season one saw them in a beautiful hotel, which we had actually been to. It's true. Humble bragged. Horrible rich people on holiday and things go horribly wrong and it's fascinating.

Yeah. Not really. Not horribly wrong for like most of them. Most of them are just rich and they walk away. Yeah, actually that's true. I meant horribly wrong on like a broader level. Sure. Like for particular characters some things went really,

probably the nicest characters seem to come off worse. Yeah, well the poorer characters, yes. Correct. That is certainly how those things go. It's also very uncomfortable because it also makes you feel awful about staying in places like that too. Which we did. We stayed at the Four Seasons.

What, for one night? For one night for a wedding too. We stayed there for one night. It was really good. But it was really amazing. Anyway, so that was in Hawaii and it was a smash hit success. Now, season two, The White Lotus, has been out for a little while now with a mostly new cast of detestable and compelling characters.

So the one returning character is Jennifer Coolidge, the actor. She plays Tanya McQuad Hunt and she is newlywed to Greg Hunt, who is played by. Another returning character. John Grease. Yeah, so they're actually, that's true, they're the Another returning character. John Grease. Yeah, so they're actually, that's true, they're the two returning characters. He's from Napoleon Dynamite. I knew it was from somewhere.

Gosh, that's awful to watch, isn't it? Napoleon Dynamite? No. Oh, that's a great movie. Their relationship. I mean Jennifer Poole, she's hilarious. She's so hilarious and self-absorbed. She plays that so, there's a moment, and I don't even know what episode it's in,

where her assistant who she's dragged on this trip when her husband wants to leave her, you know, because he's awful and she's awful and whatever, and her assistant finally opens up about how she's feeling about whatever and this and that and, you know, the guy that she likes or, you know, she's having problems with, and she just like looks at her deadpan and then just completely continues with what she was thinking. And it's just like so beautifully timed and just like a perfect encapsulation of this person who just doesn't see other people like at all.

Yeah, completely. And you also feel bad for her because she's clearly like lonely and sad. And you also feel bad for her because she's clearly like lonely and sad. Yeah, and trying and sort of weirdly like not completely with it but occasionally says something quite insightful. And then, yeah, she's also sort of awkward. She's clearly had a bad life. Yeah, and her husband, her new husband is horrible to her and doesn't really like her it seems.

Well, I don't like her but, yeah. No, I don't like her either. I really like her it seems. Well, I don't like her but, yeah. No, I don't like her either. I really like her personal assistant, Portia. She's played by Hayley Lou Richardson. Yeah, she's great, yeah. She's really funny and I also kind of like how dramatic she is about her circumstances when actually it's not that bad either. I know, yeah, exactly, yeah, yeah.

Like she's just like on the phone to someone crying about the fact that her boss is making her stay in her beautiful hotel room. And it's like, hmm, people have real problems. But also everything is relative. Exactly. So, yeah, she's really great. So also on this beautiful Sicilian holiday, Harper and Ethan Spiller, Daphne and Cameron Sullivan, and they're, I guess,

what you'd call the couple's holiday. Yes. So they're two couples on holiday together and they're two very different couples. So Harper played by. So they're two couples on holiday together and they're two very different couples. So Harper played by. Have I though? Yeah. Interesting.

Let's get to that. I'll just say who they're played by and then you can tell me what you mean by that. Sure, yeah, yeah, yeah. So Harper is played by Aubrey Plaza who we would remember from. Lux and Reckon, a million others. Last week a week before I talked about some movie that I watched with her that I really liked.

Oh, you said she was brilliant. Emily the Criminal, really good stuff. Yes, yeah, excellent. Yeah, she's great. And Ethan is her partner, played by Will Sharp, and they appear to be quite disconnected and she's a really high-flying corporate lawyer, I think. Something like that, yeah, I can't remember.

And he runs some kind of incredible start-up, so they're very sort of hot. Which he sold recently and made like infinite money. Correct. Yeah, exactly. Anyway, so he's invited his friends Cameron, played by Theo James, who is kind of like his obnoxious college roommate. He was recently in the Time Traveller's Wife, the series.

Oh, there you go. And incredibly kind of handsome and whatever. And apparently on the surface appears to have a picture-perfect life, married to a kind of Stepford sort of apparently on the surface appears to have a picture-perfect life, married to a kind of Stepford sort of woman in Daphne and played by Megan Fahey. She's from that show you like. Yes, what's that? They're like, we're 20-somethings.

I love that show and they work for a magazine and it's really excellent. I love that show. Yeah, she's really great too in this. Yeah, she is. She might be like one of the characters that is actually like the bold type that she's in. Ah, yes, the bold type.

Which finished, by the way, finished in 2021. But she, unless it's still going, I don't know. What I like about the show is you think a certain way about a character and then they'll kind of flip it. And she's one of the characters where you're like, this person sucks. And then it like, oh, not entirely maybe, but maybe, but like less than you think maybe. Yeah.

Because of the situation and there's more going on there than you'd initially imagine. Yeah. Because on the surface in the first episode they set it up as she's quite vapid and doesn't watch the news and just watches reality TV and is sort of just beautiful. But also they've got like a bunch of charitable foundations and whatever that they do.

I know, which is also probably a tax dodge and whatever. And there's that element of it but then you find more about her life and her relationship and whatever and how she doesn't really have that many friends or whatever and all this kind of thing and it becomes, yeah. That's with all of the characters. There's a hidden layer of normally something more terrible and then something you're like, oh, okay, I get that.

I get why you are the way you are. Yeah, which is really, yeah, which is interesting. And it's like the flip side of the Aubrey Plaza character because when you meet her initially she's like, oh, their marriage is fake and whatever and, you know, I'm a better person or whatever, which she pretty much basically says. Yeah. Like because I care about things and politics and whatever.

And I feel like, you know, that's something that I could definitely relate to of like, well, I learn about a thing and look at me now. Yeah, and aren't I so much more like superior to you because I know so much more or whatever. Yeah, when I don't know a goddamn thing. No one does. That's a secret to life. Exactly.

But then you find out but like that is also a form of like judgment and feeling like because she's saying, well, she thinks she's better than everyone else. But it's like, no, you think you're better than her for your own reasons, you know, and they kind of flip it and it's like you take joy out of maybe discovering that some of their marriage isn't as good as it comes across. And it's like, well, that's mean also, you know.

Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. Yeah, and there's that whole idea of just being stuck in judgment. Yeah. Where I think a lot of people do do that when they're sort of either for whatever reason dealing with their own stuff or unable to face certain things.

They get stuck in that just kind of gossip about other people's lives. And it's such a horrible spiral to fall down. Totally. And there is like – and it's pretty interesting stuff, you know, when that happens on the show but also, you know, real life as well, you know. And I think it is – Yeah, exactly. And I probably like other people.

I find it interesting when it's like you think somebody's perfect or something's perfect and whatever and then there's like, oh, there's an element of that which isn't. Maybe not like a glee but like, oh, that makes me feel better though, you know. Yeah, that I'm not the only one, that they're a normal person also. Yeah, that I'm not the only one dealing with fragilities and everything. And everybody is so that's not like. Yeah.

Yeah. And you're good at reminding me of that too as well. Also you have a really good way of talking to me about how you shouldn't be comparing yourself to other people and that you just stay in your lane and you do the work. Stay in your lane. I didn't mean it like that. I just meant as in you stay working on what lane and you do the work. Stay in your lane. I didn't mean like that. I just meant as in you stay working on what you're working on.

Yeah. And don't worry about what other people are doing. Good for them. Celebrate them. But, like, don't be comparing yourself. Or, like, ignore it. Or ignore it altogether. There's a lot of people that, like, who do what I do but, like,

way better and, like, way more successful and whatever. And I'm just like I just don't look at it because it's not useful to me. Yeah. You know, so it's like. You just have to kind of just focus on the work. I always go back to that Barack Obama saying focus on the work. If you get caught up in what other people are doing, then you're just doing a version of what they're doing, I guess.

Yeah, yeah, exactly. And I do think that with a lot of other things as well in terms of not just career but also like life choices and where people are at with their families or partners or any of that kind of stuff. I think if we get too stuck in comparing ourselves to the perfect relationship or the perfect kids or why can't my kids be this particular way or why can't my partner be that particular way, you're absolutely right. Everyone's lives are different on the outside to what they are on the inside and people are struggling in all kinds of different ways. And even if they're not, well, it doesn't help. It doesn't change anything in your life to just sort of.

No, absolutely not. And the thing is as well if you're comparing yourself or being jealous of other person and whatever, they're not thinking about you. So it's like wasted. Why bother? Yeah. I really have to remember that sometimes.

I think particularly with women in the industry that I'm in now who I really admire. Yeah. I know for a fact that they don't even notice what I'm doing. But I sort of have this weird tip on my shoulder. I really want to impress people. Totally. I get that.

But I think you do. But you can do that from just doing your work and that's when people notice, you know? Yeah, yeah. And I guess also as I'm discovering now, it's just really interesting because I remember when I started Just Make the Thing, I hadn't made anything other than what I was working with in teaching.

And Ira Glass has that saying that it takes a really long time to make something good and you just have to keep making the thing in order to do that. Yeah. And even now looking back over the things that we've made together over this amount of time, you do just have to keep trying. Yeah, totally. And you get incrementally a little bit better.

Absolutely. Even though it's not amazing, it's like the only way through. And I mean some people are lucky enough to just be able to be instantly good at something, but usually it's just the chipping away. Yeah, I mean sometimes, but most people aren't. One of the things that I like about myself and you also is that I'm not really good at anything. I totally disagree with that statement.

No, no, no, that's fine. And you as well. I'm bringing you into this. No, that like I know my limits but not in a bad way. So I know that like I'm not naturally gifted at anything. So if I want to do something, I have to work at it, which is annoying but it also means that like I have to, like I don't think I'm like natural, I don't naturally like remember things or I don't think I'm naturally funny.

I don't think I'm any of these. I would totally disagree with that. Yeah, fine. But that's also like years of like listening to stuff and reading stuff and watching stuff, do you know what I mean, and hanging out with people. It's all of that. And it's the same with even like exercise. Like I'm not naturally like athletic but I just do it every day

because it's just like, well, I just have to do it, don't I, you know? I get a little bit better or older every day. The slog. You know, yeah. Yeah. I think it's the same with like the music and stuff that you're doing because you've been working at it and you've been chipping away at it like every day and not just recently like in the long term.

Anyway, what's this show about? Yeah, this is great. Anyway, back to the White Lotus. I do think there's something in that though, that little bit every day. But for me, I also realised sometimes we're self-limiting. And for me with music, the messages I told myself was that I'm not very good at it, I will never be very good at it, so give up on it. And I think basically or just pack it away because like so many people

in my life that I've known now for like 10 years are really surprised by the fact I'm doing music, which is so strange to me because I thought it was such a huge part of my identity. But then why wouldn't it be strange to them because I haven't done anything for like 15 years. But like when we met, I was doing heaps of music. Yeah, absolutely. You're doing heaps of stuff like musical theatre and so on.

Yeah, it's weird. It's like I packed it away. Anyway, I guess what I'm trying to say is that it was still there in the back of my head. Yeah, totally. But I just, I also was self-limiting. So I had to dismantle all of that self-talk and stop putting barriers up for myself, which is the other part of it.

Anyway, back to the terrible rich people at White Lotus. Let's do it. So other than those two couples, then we move on. There's the boy trip with Bert, Dominic, and Albie DeGrasso. There's nothing like a bit of generational animosity to spice things up on a family holiday. Three generations of DeGrasso men, grandfather, father, and son, have checked into the White Lotus with a plan to reconnect with their Sicilian roots, but it's clear each is preoccupied

with their own issues. So Dominic, played by Michael Imperioli, has been turfed out by his wife after a string of affairs. His son Albie, played by Adam DeMarco, only agreed to join his father on holiday because he's a self-confessed peacemaker. And Dominic's smarmy father Bert, played by F. Murray Abraham, is trying and failing to come to grips with getting older. And he's kind of like that old guy who keeps hitting on all the young women and clearly was very charismatic back in the day.

He's from, you haven't seen it, but The Sopranos. What's the guy's name in The Sopranos? He's kind of just disappeared for you. Michael Imperioli, yeah. I knew he looked super familiar. No, his name's Christopher. That's not his name. That's his name in the show.

Yeah, no, sorry. That is his name. His name's Christopher in the show. Yeah, his name's Dominic in the show. Yeah, no, sorry. That is his name. His name is Christopher in the show. Yeah, his name is Dominic in the show. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Played by Michael Imperioli. Yeah, his name is Christopher in The Sopranos. Oh, all right.

Okay. I knew he looks familiar. Yeah. Yeah, that's kind of an interesting dynamic between the three of them. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. It's also interesting. I feel like the son is also like he's supposed to be like the nicer one of the three,

but you see that like the influence of his grandparents and like expectations of how he treats other people and women in particular is you see that kind of come through yeah he's got that nice guy thing where it's like it's not really a nice guy but it's like why don't women want to date like a nice guy like me and it's like well because you're not a nice guy like that's like a facade maybe yeah it's so interesting isn't it it's like, well, because you're not a nice guy, like that's like a facade maybe. Yeah, it's so interesting, isn't it? It's like what you were saying. They do a really great job of setting up the character for you to think

that he is at the beginning. You think he's this really sweet, innocent. I didn't like him. Like a little guy. He's clearly not. I actually felt really heartbroken in a lot of ways for Dominic, that character. Yeah.

Even though obviously he's horrible and he clearly treated his wife like the phone call he makes to his wife when he's really lonely in the hotel room and she's just calling him, just screaming at him down the phone. It's really heartbreaking. I love it. Anyway, yet again, it's interesting, isn't it? They are exploring that idea that just because you're rich

doesn't mean that you're happy. That's right. But I tell you what, it's easier when you've got a bunch of money than no money. Yes. I 1,000% would agree with that. What do you think of the new Armand who is kind of like, what is it, the concierge or the host? I like her. Yeah.

I think it's taken too long to get to where you are with her though. I think in the more recent episodes they've actually explored like this person more because up until this point it's just kind of like she just seems angry and upset. Yeah, she's just constantly stomping around in a suit. And there's nothing like and there's no really given reason for it. So I think if there was one thing that I guess a criticism is, yeah, bring a whole lot of that up because you're finding out more of her personality as well at this point.

Yeah. Yeah, because her name's Valentina. I like her like as an actor. I do too, yeah. Sabrina Impacciatore is her name. Yeah, because it's set in Sicily. Sicily. Yeah, there's a bunch of Italian actors in it as well who are all great.

Yeah, completely. I agree. It just takes too long and whereas Armand in the first season, I felt like immediately you felt like he was a really complex character. You got a sense of him like straight away. Like straight away, yeah. Whereas this is taking a bit, just like the disgruntled angry vibe is kind of, I don't know, predictable or something.

I don't know. Or a bit, I'm just not quite sure why. So, yeah, seeing the later episodes, I agree with you. And there's also The Locals played by Simona Tabasco who plays Lucia who is an escort who finds herself entangled with Michael Imperioli's Dominic and then her friend Mia played by Beatrix Grano who has grand plans to become a musician but often finds herself led astray by Lucia's promise of easy money.

Mm, yeah, exactly. And Lucia obviously sleeps with Michael's, like what's his name, Dominic in the very first. Michael Ferrioli, yeah. Yes, in the very first episode. So overall what do you think? Do you think that it is as good as season one? I mean maybe not but it's also it's not the end yet.

So I don't know. I think it's definitely like it's very compelling and I think, yeah, it is missing a few of the key elements of the first series. And I mean in particular the guy who ran the show. Yeah, because he's played by that Australian actor. He's so good in that. He's so good. And what did we see him in very recently?

Chippendales. Chippendales. Which I want to talk about another week. There's only been a couple of episodes. I know. I want to watch another episode of that. At the moment I'm really enjoying it. I don't know.

We'll see. Yeah, I really enjoyed that too. Yeah. He's great. But no, I do enjoy it and I love the setting and just the pettiness and like they're surrounded by like wealth and opulence in like one of the most beautiful places in the world but it doesn't really mean anything.

To them, yeah. Like they're always going to see things and having these amazing breakfasts and, you know, and it's always like beautiful music and people bringing them things and all this stuff. But it's just that's kind of like in the same way that Succession, well Succession probably leans into this more so where they surround a boy all this wealth but it doesn't mean anything. And Succession does it more in the sense of like it makes wealth look boring

and like tacky and just mundane because that's what it is to people who have that much money. Kind of level of wealth. Yeah, where this is more does lean into like the setting more and like you get a sense of like, oh, this is a beautiful place. How incredibly beautiful it is, yeah. Yeah, because we visited, I don't know, how far south did we go? The Amalfi Coast maybe?

We did. We went to the Amalfi Coast. We didn't get to Sicily though. But we went to Naples, which was such a terrible, when we were there, it was just everyone was yelling at each other. But apparently there's always a garbage truck. Yeah, it was just, I saw a mini person leaning out of like one of those tiny little cars yelling at a bus driver who was also stopped because they'd wedged

into themselves together around a roundabout. Yeah. We saw a dog kind of like sitting underneath a pile of garbage. Oh, I saw the ugliest dog I've ever seen and I got a photo. You did and it genuinely is. It had like teeth and it was a very strange looking dog. I have to say the pizza was delicious though. Pizza was exceptional.

Everybody I know who's like from Italy or his family from Italy, even like from that area, are like I fucking hate Naples. So I don't know. But if you leave like the centre of Naples, then it's very quickly like changes. Totally. Do you remember that we went to the Amalfi Coast? It's all corrupt as well.

That's why it seems that way. And then we got back to Naples and we had to go back early and we missed Pompeii because we got food poisoning. Do I remember that? Yes, I do. And then you carried our bags like up six flights of stairs and we were so sick and we had to like stay in this tiny flat in the middle of Naples.

Yes, I do remember that. I do remember having no money and being food poisoned on the other side of Naples. Yes, I do remember that. I do remember having no money and being food poisoned on the other side of the world. Yes, Claire, I remember. Do you remember when we came out of it? This is not an ad for McDonald's, but the only thing that we felt like we could eat was McDonald's. And that is actually something I will say about Macca's.

It is the same. It's pretty consistent. It's different, but there is something so comforting and also kind of strange, but going somewhere. Just give me a cheeseburger or whatever. Yeah, because you also just feel like it's just safe. I want something that I know it's different but there is something so comforting and also kind of strange but going somewhere. Just give me a cheeseburger or whatever. Yeah, because you also just feel like it's just safe. I want something that I know. Yeah, familiar.

Exactly. That's what I wanted when I was pregnant was like a cheeseburger because it's so familiar. Shall we move on? Let's move it along. Let's move it along. I give it four out of five stars. How many stars do you give it, Claire?

We don't rate shows, Claire. You're being ridiculous. I will say I'm not enjoying it as much as season one. Yeah, fair enough. I'm not as into it and I don't know why that is. I think it's also like season one was really like out of the blue and had this unique cast of characters. Yeah.

And, you know, it's one of those things, you know, it's a difficult like follow-up album or whatever, which you will experience soon. Correct. Where it's, you know, you put all your ideas into the first one and then, you know, you've got to turn something out for the second and especially in like it's only been a couple of years since the last season. But, no, I do enjoy it.

I like it. Do you know, actually, I'm realising why I'm not enjoying it as much. I just love Connie Britton. I love her. Yeah, she was in that. And she's so great. Steve Zahn. Sydney Sweeney was in it.

I just feel like I just really loved that particular range of actors and the group together. I like these range of actors as well. Oh, I do too. I think they're excellent. Interesting cast. I know. I think maybe, yeah, I don't know, maybe also because we stayed

the four seasons, part of me was just like, ooh, I remember that pool. Ooh. I remember that one night that we stayed in a fancy place. Anyway. It's winter and you can get anything you need delivered with Uber Eats. that one night that we stayed that too. Along with your favorite restaurant food, groceries, and other everyday essentials. Order Uber Eats now. For alcohol, you must be legal drinking age. Please enjoy responsibly.

Product availability varies by region. See app for details. All right, moving along. Do you have something to recommend? I do. I'm going to recommend, Claire, a little show called Interview with This Vampire. Oh. Interview with the Vampire. Oh, isn't that old?

Claire, it's from 1976, the books. Yes. The series of books that began then are, of course, The Work of Anne Rice. Now, there were two movies based off the Interview with the Vampire series. There was Interview with the Vampire with one Thomas Mopova Cruise and Bradley Pitt. Ah, yes.

And Kirsten Dunst. And then there was a 2002 sequel starring Stuart Townsend, which was called Queen of the Damned, where the stat went from a Tom Cruise-looking, 18th century dandy-looking dude or whatever, to a goth emo, 2000s era punk kind of emo guy. It's terrible apparently. I think it was year 2000.

It was filmed like in Australia, that one as well. Anyways, but this is like a reboot with a number of tweaks, right? So it's created by Roland Jones. It stars Jacob Anderson, who you might know as Grey Worm from Game of Thrones. Ah, yes, yes, yes. He is, which one did I say? He's Louis.

Sam Reid, who plays Lestat, who was I think the Tom Cruise character. He was in the Newsreader. He's the main Newsreader guy in the Newsreader, the Australian one. Ah, yes, yes. And also stars Eric Bogusian, who is a, what's his name? I don't know. I love it when you're never sure. Your voice always goes really high.

I don't know what's going on. Yeah, that's so sad. Burger sign. Yeah, this guy. You've probably seen him in things. Oh, yes, yes, I've seen him in things. He plays the guy who's doing the interview with the vampire, and Bailey Bass plays a 14-year-old girl who's turned into a vampire.

But if you turn into a vampire when you're 14, guess what? What? You stay 14 because of immortality. Anyway, in the year 2022. God, I would hate that. I hated being 14. And your mind changes as well. Oh, but you're in this 14-year-old.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, God, that's awful. Pimples and periods and oh. No, that all clears up when you're a vampire. Oh, really? Yeah. Oh, actually, maybe you don't get any of that stuff. You'd want to be at least 16.

In the year 2022, the vampire Louis lives in Dubai and seeks to tell the story of his life or afterlife to renowned journalist Daniel Malloy. Now, it's also the premise of this one is that they did an original interview with a vampire in the 70s and it went poorly. So he's called this guy back who's now in old age to do a second interview. Ah, okay. So it's sort of a sequel to the first one but not really.

Hang on. Do you mean the vampire is old or the interviewer is old? The vampire looks exactly the same. That's what I was going to say. The interviewer is now like in his 60s or 70s. Ah, okay. Yes, yes, yes. That's what I thought. So beginning in the early 20 is now like in his 60s or 70s. Ah, okay. Yes, yes, yes. That's what I thought.

So beginning in the early 20th century in New Orleans, Louis Farr. New Orleans. That's right, which is a great setting for this story, follows his relationship with a vampire, Lestat, and their formed family including the teen fledgling Claudia together the vampire family endures immortality in New Orleans and beyond. So as mentioned, there's a number of things that like the 1994 one, which I haven't seen, people like and don't like.

One of the things is that there's a lot of like subtext about like the gay relationship between those two main vampires and this just leans 100% into that. They are as gay as the day is long, Claire. Or at the very least on like the spectrum of sexuality is like they're just loving life and loving each other, right? But it's also a toxic relationship because one bit the other and changed them into a vampire so they can kind of hang out together and, you know, so there's that dynamic of it.

And Louis now, who was I think wide in pretty much every incarnation, is now a black Creole man. So he's in this era and he's also running like a business in New Orleans, but people don't necessarily take him seriously, you know. And he's learned to play the game and he's like, he does very well, but he also feels like that he isn't treated with, you know, the amount of respect which he should have of somebody like him, which is true. So their lifestyle, which people kind of see, they realise that maybe there's something going on with these two guys and they realise that, you know, and they don't like the fact that, you know, one of them is a black guy.

And they also notice it to a point everyone in the town realises that these guys aren't ageing and they're doing weird things. And while this is happening, there's this backdrop of they pretty much have to murder somebody every day to drink their blood and it is incredibly gory but it's also the gore and the murders are done in such a flippant way that you don't really you're not like it's it's more kind of fun and like just a quick throwaway thing like they'll see somebody walk past and be like just give me a second And they'll just grab somebody and like drain their blood and then just dump the body or whatever.

But it's just done like, it's done just like playing tennis or whatever. Yeah, it doesn't mean anything. But there's seven episodes. The first series is complete. It's on AMC in Australia. It's on Prime Plus through AMC. It's a whole thing. But I really enjoyed it.

Like I thought it was I like the theatricality of it and the costuming and all the different accents and just hearing like the stories about what it would like to be an immortal person in a certain era and then, you know, growing into another era and all of that. Anyways, is there something on your phone, Claire, that is distracting you? No, I'm just reading about the suggestible email that I have next, which I'm so excited about.

You are rocking back and forth. I'm so excited to share it with you. Great. I'm sorry, I'm listening to your interview. No, you weren't. You didn't look at me for ten minutes. They were eating the vampire bodies and, like, discarding them in the street like they were nothing.

I heard you. You love watching really dark things. Where is it on? Where is it on? Where is it on? Amazon Prime. Yes. I bloody guessed that. Actually, I didn't.

It's the spider in the back of my head. Yeah, you knew. I knew. The spider in the back of my head. Anyway, I like it and I'll definitely tune in to the next season. I like the idea of like he's telling this story from the modern day and he's like this fancy vampire living in Dubai, which is like the worst place for a vampire to be.

That's what I mean. I find that really cool. Well, it's like what is somebody with like infinite money and like, you know, what do you do, you know? You buy a weird building in Dubai and, you know, and whatever and all the windows are tinted so they're not getting blasted with sunlight. But it's also a different, you know, and whatever and all the windows are tinted so they're not getting blasted with sunlight. But it's also a different, you know, you can get away with changing your identity and moving around when it's the, you know,

when it's before technology but then it comes to the modern day and that becomes far more difficult. Which they haven't really leaned into that much to be fair. But no, again, like I haven't seen any of the Interview the Vampire stuff. I haven't read any of the Interview the Vampire stuff. I haven't read any of it. I don't know the movie like at all aside from like seeing Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt in wigs.

Tom Cruise is wearing little heels because he's a little man. Doesn't he secretly wear heels and everything? Not secretly. You get those shoes. They're like. Yeah, tolls or something. It looks like a regular sole but there's like the inside of it, they look like – it looks like a regular sole, but there's like the inside of it, there's like a big thick like wedge in the runner.

I wonder if he was wearing them when he was riding that plane in that video you showed me. You showed me that. Well, maybe. What I thought was interesting about the new Top Gun is, and I mentioned that when we talked about it, in the original Top Gun like he's small. He's like a little guy.

Yeah. But then in a lot of the other things since, they kind of cast to his size or he's standing on a box or whatever or people who aren't wearing shoes. But then in the new Top Gun, they just went back to him being like a little guy. Yeah. Which I thought was like, oh, that's cool. Like he grew. He grew between movies.

Do you know what, though? I think it's, I don't know, call me crazy, but I kind of just like that he's a little guy. I like it too. I think't know, call me crazy, but I kind of just like that he's a little guy. I like it too. I think they should just let him be little. The expression is short king, Claire. I know. We've done a whole episode on short kings before.

I know, James. I know. I'm all here for it. Absolutely. I love a short king. I know you do. But I'm probably taller than Tom Cruise, Claire, I'll tell you that much. Well.

I don't know that for a fact. Not with heels on. Yeah, we don't know. We don't know for sure. Anyway, Claire, I'll tell you that much. Wow. I don't know that for a fact. Not with heels on. Yeah, we don't know. We don't know for sure. Anyway, Claire, did you know you can review the show? Certainly didn't. You can do it in app. Well, you should.

You can do it in app. It's as easy as anything. As five? This one is from Munkery42, who's given us five stars. I don't know. And they said, sex. Ooh. I don't want to have your attention.

Holy. Great pod. Reminds me of a conversation I had with my wife. Oh. Though less often. Though when we have the conversation, she doesn't stare at her phone the whole time. Wow. Oh, what?

That's what this person has said. Okay, I very rarely stare at my phone. I'm looking up that you will enjoy this email. This person actually said, Monkery says, though less often now that our young kids are devouring all our free time. Yes, I would agree with that 100%. Love the interplay of Claire and Nick Mason's Goat Puppet as they frequently convince me not, me to waste more of my very limited free time.

We were talking yesterday. We were sitting together and we were like chatting and we were like, we should do this more. We should hang out more. Which is ridiculous because like we live together. It's like we should do more stuff together, don't you reckon? Who was I talking to? One of the dads in our community who's excellent and he was saying

to me how you guys clearly like you don't really do anything together, do you, because you're a show. You're like what are you even doing watching? You don't even watch things together. No. Like no, we really don't. We just, I don't know why. We're just constantly working.

I miss being in our little flat where we used to just sit together on the couch and watch things together. That's true. We could stroll down and get a dinner and then be like, ooh, now let's stroll home or whatever. I know. Go to the city. Those were the days.

I haven't done anything in eight years. That's not true. You went to the pub the other night. Oh, that's true. Other dads. Yeah, wow. Look at me. Had a lovely time.

You were so impressed. You're like, look at you going and talking to people. Even the way you came to tell me, you were like, so I'm. And you tried to say it in this way that was like it wasn't a big deal, but you were like, so I'm just going to the pub with the guys. No, this is absolute bullshit. You nearly jumped out of your skin. You were like, what do you mean?

And I'm like, I'm going out. And you're like, why? What? I'm like, I'm just going to the pub. Because you never go to the, you never do that. And also you're like, you didn't tell me. And I'm like, not like you can't go, but like you didn't tell me this. I'm like, I did tell you.

You were probably looking at your phone, Claire. I don't know why you thought it was a big deal. I do things all the time. Today, for example, I saw the movie Glass Onion by myself. When you say you do things all the time, what you do is Nick Mason comes to our house and then you talk about movies and then you go to the movies, usually on your own, and very occasionally you will see one of your best friends for a beer or a walk but only if they're free

and not very often. True. I go to the gym. And you go to the gym where they ask you things like, do you work? I've got my gym mates. I've got Steve. I've got John. I've got other people.

They might not be their names. The trainers that ask you why you're there at night. What are you doing here all the time? Anyway, what's your email? I know. It was just really nice that you went. Anyway, it was great. All right.

So I don't know if you remember last week, but we had some bog debates. Do you remember? We were talking about bogs and marshes. Bog baits. Bog baits. That's what it's called. Well, the wonderful Joseph Pickard has written in, and in capital letters he says, I am a bog expert.

Oh, my God. Thank God for Joseph. Finally. Hi, Claire and James. I was just catching up on the most recent episode of Suggestible. I missed it earlier this week because I spent all day working on a bog. What? And you requested bog experts get in touch, so here I am. I'm so excited for a bog expert. I didn't know you had a bog. What? And you requested bog experts get in touch.

So here I am. I'm so excited for a bog expert. I didn't know you had a bog expert. My name's Joey. I'm a peatland restoration ecologist and researcher in South Wales. Oh, so he's restoring the bog. Yeah, I know. And I spend my life protecting and restoring these amazing ecosystems.

I do surveys, design restoration plans, do community outreach, and spend a lot of time looking at moss, which is what forms these habitats. I do surveys, design restoration plans, do community outreach, and spend a lot of time looking at moss, which is what forms these habitats. I love moss. I learned so much about moss from that book, The Signature of All Things by Elizabeth Gilbert. So fascinating. I know a lot about moss too. I just choose to not say anything about it. You don't know anything about moss. Anyway, back to Joey, the bog expert. Claire was closest with her definition in your face over there, Jim Bob. I did good.

But there's a level in between what she said. Bogs are a type of peatland which are a type of terrestrial wetland. Right. Yeah. So there are a few types of peatland in the UK where I work which all need water to form but bogs are fed exclusively by rain. There are also fens which have water flowing in from the ground and blanket mire which is a mix.

They cover 3% of the globe. That is so much. That's a lot. But store more than twice as much carbon as all the forests in the world combined in soil called peat which we discussed as well. We talked about that too. Which grows in some cases one millimetre per year. So in some places you're walking on metres and metres of soil,

which means thousands and thousands of years of history. That's fascinating to me. They're incredibly vulnerable and are easily damaged but also repairable. People drained them for crops and timber and used the peat for fuel, which is what you were talking about last week. I said that. I was right. Which you burn like coal.

To fix them, you need to stop the system losing water and get some of the lost species back in. It's often an ecosystem people don't know too much about, but I think they're amazing and everyone should visit one at least once in their life. Okay. I think that just sounds so fascinating. My suggestible for everyone is, of course, peatlands,

but I appreciate not everyone loves moss as much as me. So I also have some others. James, if you like Children of Time, read the Uplift trilogy by David Brin, a sprawling space epic with similar themes and ideas. And the space station in the first chapter of Children of Time is called the Brin 2 after David Brin. Oh, okay. And Claire, I know you don't love sci-fi, but I think you'd like the Monk and Robot series by Becky Chambers. It's a really quite hopeful story about what people need to be happy. M-O-N-K?

What's that? Monk and Robot? Yes, M-O-N-K and Robot. About what people need to be happy set in a world where people have learned from the mistakes from the past and live at one with the world. It just happens to have a robot in it. I love that. Oh, my goodness.

Love the show. Thanks both. If you want to learn more about Boggs, the restoration project I work for is called Lost Peatlands and is on Twitter for now, YouTube and Facebook, and I'm at BootleGBrioz in various places. Ta-ra. That's how we say goodbye here, Joey.

Very good. I know. What a beautifully written email as well. And this person, I don't know if you know this, they knew a lot about bogs. Joey, he's a bog expert. He's the official bog expert of Suggestible Podcast. You know what?

I'm going to have to take that title. That's my title. The bog spurt. Yeah, I'm the bog spurt. No, no, it's good. Thank you. I did see on the Facebook group that someone had said, this is what I think a bog is and they've showed a picture of a toilet

because they're from Scotland and they call it bogs. We call it a bog here as well. We do this sometimes, yeah. Yeah. Not the toilet, more like what you do, what goes into a toilet. Yeah, it's not really the toilet, is it? It's more the poop we call a bog. I was talking to my dad about bogs the other day because we have

our bog discussion we had, our bog-sccussion. Yeah, it's a bog-sccussion. And, you know, people burn them or whatever. It's not good for the environment or whatever and it ruins the lands or whatever. And he's like, nah, it's fine. And I'm like. That is your dad's response to literally everything.

That's not true though, is it? He's like, nah, it's fine. I'm like, climate change? He's like, nah, it's fine. I'm like, climate change? He's like, nah, it's fine. I guess it is fine for him. He's, you know, in his 70s. Absolutely. I went to a burger place recently in the area where my parents live, right,

and my dad's a firefighter and has been for like 1,000 years. And there was a donation thing for the local fire brigade and I looked at the picture and who was on the picture, Claire? It was your dad. It was my dad. And I wanted to be like, this is my dad on this picture. Then no one would be like, we don't care. But anyway, I thought it was cool.

Was he fighting a fire? Was he in his special uniform? No, he had a gun and he was holding a gun to another person. He was like, I'll kill this person. Jeez, that's weird. I mean, it's a fairly in character for him. Why'd they put that photo there? They could have put a –

He's strange as a volunteer firefighter. He's a little strange, but I could see it. I could see it. Yeah, you could see it. Yeah, so that was fun. Speaking of, I tried to make a conversation with our son today about what he's watching, Ninja Turtles. Yep.

He told me the villain, Tiger Claw, the new villain. So I was like, oh, great. He's watching the 2012 series, yeah. I'm like, okay, cool. Tell me about the Tiger Claw. I'm like, is he, what makes him so cool? And he just went, he has lots of guns, Mum. So many guns.

And I was like, what am I supposed to say? Why is it called Tiger Claw if he has so many guns? That's what I said. And he was like, and I'm like, tell me more about him. He was like, well, he was a kid and now he's a giant tiger with guns. I don't know why he's so big. Do you? Do you?

No, you're telling the story. Anyway, that was just me connecting with my son. Absolutely. Actually, if anyone has any tips for writing in for how to connect with their son who's obsessed with comic books, movies, TV shows, video games, I should just ask you. Yeah, just ask me. I've got some tips.

The person I'm married to. Let me know. All right. That's it for me. All right, that's it. Thank you, everybody. We'll see you next week. Thank you, everyone.

We've been Chess for Podcast. Thank you to Royal Collings for editing this week's episode. Thank you to Maisie for doing our socials at SuggestiblePod. You can follow along. I'm at Claire20 on Instagram if you would like to follow along with some of my current exploits. And who are you? You're Mr Sunday Movies.

It's none of anyone's damn business who I am. Well, except for all the people that follow you and listen to what you do. Stay out of my business, everybody. Thank you, everybody. Bye. Goodbye. Introducing Uber Teen Accounts, an Uber account for your teen with always-on enhanced safety features. Thank you. will get assigned a top-rated driver. You'll get peace of mind. Uber Teen Accounts.

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