Suggestible - The Sky is Overrated

Episode Date: September 4, 2019

Suggestible things to watch, read and listen to hosted by James Clement @mrsundaymovies and Claire Tonti @clairetonti.This week's Suggestibles:Funny in Failure: Held Back with Broden KellyAunty Donna & Chuffed (Dad Song)Chocolate Shell Ice-Cream Topping by Jennifer GarnerPachinko by Min Jee LeeThe Great HackTrapdoorInvader ZimThe Dark CrystalMore on MindhunterYoungerThe Beaches, Alice Merton & July TalkFollow the show on Instagram and Twitter @suggestiblepod or visit www.planetbroadcasting.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We can wait for clean water solutions, or we can engineer access to clean water. We can acknowledge Indigenous cultures, or we can learn from Indigenous voices. We can demand more from the earth, or we can demand more from ourselves. At York University, we work together to create positive change for a better tomorrow. Join us at yorku.ca slash write the future. Join us at yorku.ca slash write the future. Hello, welcome to Suggestible Pod. I'm Claire.

James is here also. What's the show about, James? Look, this is how it is. You like podcasts? Great. There he goes. Welcome. You're here.

You made it this far. This one is all about suggesting things that we've read, watched, listened to, eaten, flew over and went, hmm. Neither of us could fly. No, you know when you're flying in a plane and you look over and you go, hmm. You never do that or you're too busy watching something to suggest on this podcast. Flying is the worst and you can't say anything because people are like, why don't you look out the window?

At what? Well, anyway. The sky? I can see the sky from here. I don't need to be up in it to be looking at it. It looks the same. All right. As interesting as this topic of conversation is,

get on with your bloody suggestible, mate. All I'm saying is the sky is overrated. You can look at it from, you don't need to spend big money. I have such different views on this because I'm always banging on about asking you to go and look at the sky. I love a pink sky. It's ever-changeable, ever-changing. It's beautiful.

Yeah, I get it. The sky's a variety of colours. The sky has to be an absolutely wicked, crazy colour for me to go, what? See, I look at it every day of the week. I even like a grey sky. It's moody. Listen to Moody. This guy can get out of here.

I'll say it that much. By Frank Sinatra, recommended previously. All right, get on with your podcast. Okay, so my first one is a podcast called Funny in Failure, which could be the bloody title of my bloody- Of your life. I was going to say. This is your life, James.

Yeah. That's exactly it. So basically, it's an iTunes. I mean, you're not that funny. No, I'm not. I don't have the host in front of me. Why doesn't he have his name in the bio? Anyway, it's an Australian podcast.

Someone would think you were a professional. I know. Look at my notes, all prepared, all ready for you. I've got notes. My notes are less, but I've still got them. Okay, hang on. Come on, Funny in Failure by James Clement. I'll find the name at the end.

Come on, mate. But it's basically about a person, a man, who talks with comedians about their careers. Like he's had people on the past like John Safran, who is a popular presenter here in Australia who started on, it was almost like a reality show in the 90s, isn't it? Well, it was. It was like a reality journalism show in the 90s.

All the way up to his most recent episode, or his second most recent with Broden Kelly, who people might know as one of the three, sorry, there's more than three people on RTD on it because there's multiple people behind the scenes. Yeah, but they're the faces of it. They're the ones you see the face of. Broden Kelly, I'm a big fan of in his comedy in that show,

but also in real life. He's a super nice guy. He's one of those guys, what I find really funny about Broden is he's really good at doing really mundane, run-of-the-mill stuff that like normal people do but at an absurd level but also feels real at the same time. Yeah, so it's very funny. Like he does a really good dad. It's like, I'm a dad.

I can't do it. I definitely can't do it. Because Auntie Donna actually is a definite recommendation in this show. Yeah, 100%. If you haven't listened to their podcast or watched their YouTube channel, you should definitely do it. Or go to their you haven't listened to their podcast or watched their YouTube channel, you should definitely do it. Or go to their live shows or listen to their music or whatever. I love Broden and how he sings the dad song.

What's it called? Yeah. Chuffed. Chuffed. It's so good. Yeah, he's very funny. Exactly. But anyway, so.

Broden. The thing about Broden is and a lot of comedians, like I've met him multiple times and he's, you know, he's very nice and very friendly and whatever. But this goes into like the backstory of him becoming, you know, a comedic actor because he started at university with some of the other Aunty Donna guys. And then he was going to be a serious actor and how that changed. And he was talking about how in high school, because he's like still plays footy.

And if you looked at him, you'd be like, he's a regular sporty bloke or whatever. He looks like a footy guy. He does. Yeah. Well, and he is because he plays. Which is Aussie rules. But he talks about how in it how when he was like 13, 14, he was in the footy club room and he was told as a kid that like,

that's the best place in the world you can be, nothing but support, and they have all those kinds of things. But he remembers looking around at the time and going, what a pack of fuckwits. And I have a really big problem with like sporting culture in general. I think any culture that takes itself way too seriously, I actually have a problem with. But there is that kind of hyper-masculinity,

like everybody's kind of trying to outdo each other and whip each other on the nuts with wet towels. And often the attitude to women is pretty peaceful. Yeah, absolutely. It's changing and it's not everywhere. It's definitely changing and it's not every sporting club, but I'm saying, you know, it is prevalent. You know, footy trip, mate.

Yeah, you see it in the media. Get in the cheeks. And I saying, you know, it is. You know, footy trip, mate. Yeah, you see it in the media. Get in the cheeks. And I got, you know, I got mates like that and whatever, who I also really like at the same time. And also on a point to that as well, there has still not been one Aussie rules football player in Australia who's identified as gay. Not one.

That is crazy. I have a friend who's a journalist who you also know. Well, I actually haven't seen him in like five years. But we know him. Is he a friend? I know him. Anyway, and there's been a couple of times where AFL players, Aussie rules footballers, have gone to come out and then haven't

and have gone, and they kind of pulled back because they don't want to be the first and they don't want to be kind of targeted because there is this thing in Australian rules football of people being targeted for their race and various other things. To kind of get under their skin, right? Definitely, yeah. And particularly there's a football player called Adam Goodes who is an Indigenous Australian man and he has been subject

of a lot of targeting. And a lot of that is rested on like, well, he should suck it up, you know, it's the game and whatever, but the level of like vitriol that was targeted at him, which wasn't on anybody else. And even if he, I don't think he's a terrible bloke, he seems like a very nice bloke. But even if he was, there are much worse people than him who play who don't get that kind of abuse.

Yeah, correct. So there is an element of footy culture. And going back to Brodden, as we were actually discussing, he does look like a guy that would play football, he's bloody hilarious yeah and which you could be both obviously also i've seen the footy show claire i've seen a man dress up as a woman and come out of the skit show in the footy show and you're like oh my god there's nothing funnier than a man dressing up as a woman oh it gets funnier every time but um so but he was talking about how he was in school and then he he wanted

to do theater and he kind of chickened out the first year and then he and then he decided to do it and he said that kind of welcoming environment was was so different it was like the opposite of what he's experiencing so that's when he kind of fell in love with it and he talks about how auntie donna which and they're hugely successful but he's talked about how it pretty much every step of the way they've done it all by themselves like Like they've had help from people like, you know, leg up here and there and people promoting and whatever, but it's mostly they've built everything themselves. There's been no one person to be like, I'm going to make you a star

and whatever and I'll put you – because they've had like multiple TV deals fall through and things like that and, you know, they've lost awards and won awards and he just talks about the journey and it's just fascinating. I think if you're interested in doing something, you know. Creatively. Creativeness, it might be worth looking into. Yeah.

For me, a lot of the stuff that I, you know, well, Broden's younger than me by like six years, but a lot of the stuff that he was saying, I'm like, absolutely. Yeah, particularly the doing it yourself, right? Yeah. I mean, you, and we've talked about this before, there's an episode of Just Make the Thing where we talk about your sort of how you got into doing Mr. Sunday movies.

But it's absolutely what we've discovered is you cannot rely on anyone to turn around and go, come on, kid, we're going to make you a star. Instead, you've just got to work your ass off. Yeah. And make your own opportunities. We've had like multiple people like, you know, make offers and things that have fallen through or brands that are like,

this is going to be huge for you and whatever. And every time we get something now, I'm just like, you know, make offers and things that have fallen through or brands that are like, this is going to be huge for you and whatever. And every time we get something now, I'm just like, fuck off. Like that's my immediate risk. Like I'll be like, oh, I'm open to it. But I'm like, okay. Yeah. I just don't think you ever take anything too seriously. And if it comes through, whoop-de-loo, amazing.

And we're so grateful for it. But also, as you've always said, it's so much better to be in charge of your own ship. And because now of things like Instagram and YouTube, you can take – I mean, obviously they've been around for a long time, but you have the power to take those in your own hands rather than having to wait for a big TV network. All right, anything you want to say about that before I continue

with my recommendations? No, it's called Funny and Failure by some guy. I'm really sorry. Google his name. I'll Google it before the end of the show. All guy. I'm really sorry. Google his name. I'll Google it before the end of the show. I'll keep talking. I've got so many recommendations. That sounds awesome.

You've talked to me about that already. I'm going to listen to it. And Auntie Donna, please go and watch their YouTube channel. Amazing. Michael Kahan. Oh, Michael. Good on you, mate. Good on you, Michael.

You're funny and failure. Put your name in the description of your podcast. Did I choose Michael? All right. Don't tell him what to do. He's successful in his own right. He is. Okay. I have a few things to recommend. My first one is a very sneaky quick one. You know how I like to do that to you. It's a recipe for chocolate shell ice cream topping. Oh my goodness. I found this because I follow Jennifer Garner on Instagram, which do you some favor. She's freaking hilarious. Jennifer Garner, hilariously amazing. She's great.

Yeah. She does this sort of ridiculously failed cookie shows and they're really terribly filmed in her own kitchen, but they're just so funny. Her timing is hilarious. Anyway, this recipe was in the New York Times. It's seven ounces of bitter sweet chocolate, two tablespoons of coconut oil. That is it. You just melt it together and then it becomes like your own ice magic, which I don't know if you have that in the US or wherever you are. Basically it's chocolate topping for your ice cream except it goes hard. Yeah. Yeah.

It's delicious. No, it's not. But this sounds better. Yeah. Ice magic is terrible. But this is delicious and it's kind of gone viral on the internet. So do yourself a favour. If you're having a movie night, go melt yourself some bittersweet chocolate

with two tablespoons of coconut oil, pour it over your ice cream. Delish. I love Jennifer Garner and I love her almost, it seems like infinite tolerance for Ben Affleck. Yeah, of course I love you, but if I had to choose. She is hot. I'll give you that. No, I just think she's genuinely nice. She seems really cool. And she runs her own business too. She's really fast. We've talked about her before when she was interviewed on the podcast with David Tennant. Yes. And she just was running her own business too. She's really fascinating. We've talked about her before when she was interviewed on the podcast with David Tennant. Yes. And she just was running her own businesses and works super hard

and is a mum as well and really into gardening and cooking and all the things that I love. Yeah. Hilarious. She's like what Gwyneth Paltrow does but real. Yeah. Look, I love Gwyneth too. I respect her very much.

Whatever she's doing, sticking up, sticking jade eggs up her bajuts. She is actually. That's a quote. I know. I'm well aware of all the shit that she's up to. Some of her Goop podcasts are great. The one with Brene Brown is excellent. A lot of them are a little bit too airy-fairy for me.

Anyway, that's my first recommendation. My second one is a book. It's called Panchenko by Min Jin Lee. It was published in 2017. It's just amazing. It's an epic. So it's quite a long one. It's a historical book. It's set in the beginning in South Korea, and then it moves across to Japan. It looks at Japan's colonization of Korea and the impacts of World War II as experienced in East Asia. And it deals with love and loss and political disenfranchising, immigration and the changing role of women. If this all sounds really boring, it's actually not.

It's a beautiful story of Sunja who her father, the beauty of it, it starts in 1911 and kind of spans a whole lot of generations. Right, okay. It starts in 1911 and kind of spans a whole lot of generations. Right, okay. And so in the beginning, her father, before she's born, it starts with her father who's got a club foot and a hair lip. Anyway, he's kind of this guy that is so unassuming but works so hard in his village that everyone comes to adore him even though he has a lot of health problems and he ends up, because he's such a hard worker

and such a beautiful person. He ends up as a member of Aun problems and he ends up, because he's such a hard worker and such a beautiful person. He ends up as a member of Aunty Donna. He does. No, he ends up finding a wife, which they thought he wouldn't be able to, and then they end up having a child, which is Sunja, and it kind of just follows their story from really humble beginnings and Sunja falls pregnant out of wedlock, which is really frowned upon obviously at that time to the point

where women would commit suicide if that happened to them. Right, geez. And there's a Christian minister that comes into the village and is such a beautiful guy and he sees the kindness of her mother and her family that run this boarding house that he decides to marry her and he takes her back to Japan. Ah.

So that's sort of the beginning of the story. I won't spoil any more of it. It's just beautifully written and it really gives this kind of heart-rending picture of what life is like for people that move from their hometown when all they know is their small village and they suddenly are thrust into somewhere like Osaka, which is a huge city. And it just gives you a real insight into a culture

that I don't really know that much about. I mean, I know we talk about North Korea and Kim Jong-un and all that stuff, but I didn't really know much at all about South Korea in terms of its culture or, you know, food or history. And so I love this kind of book because it gives you a really kind of detailed insight into the history of it. It kind of tricks you while also you just fall in love with the characters and the story and the writing. So you're learning while also just enjoying yourself. I hate that. That's like that Indiana Jones TV series where they're like,

adventures, what about math? And I'm like, wait a minute, shoot someone. South Korea, we've had a few things. I think Kim's Convenience we've talked about is about South Korea, I believe. Last week I talked about a South Korean film as well and this week South Korea is popping up all over the place. I know.

This author Min Jin Lee is really fascinating too. So she was born in South Korea then moved to New York with her family and when she came to New York her family didn't speak any English so she had to teach herself English by going to the New York Library and she ended up sort of studying law and becoming a writer. And she's just got this incredible work ethic that stemmed from her parents. But just the idea of someone- There's a giant fly in here. Yeah, I know. It's buzzing around. I can't hear it on the mic, so hopefully it's all right.

Get out of here, blowfly. Shoo, fly, don't bother me. Anyway, Min Jin Lee. Just the idea of you not being able to speak English when you arrive in a country and then becoming so masterful with the language that you become a lawyer and you also write best-selling books. I mean. Incredible. Just amazing. She's also written some really great short stories too.

One is called The Access of Happiness. I'd recommend reading that one too. I mean, as someone who exclusively speaks English and used to speak 50 words of Swahili, it's brutal when you go to another place, you know, it's been language. You just feel like you speak the language. You just feel like an idiot. Yeah, I know. And it's quite embarrassing really when you think about it.

I mean, because in Australia we really don't have the need to speak anything other than English and most of the things we consume online or on the internet machine are either in English or it can be easily translated into English. So we're very lucky in that way. Yeah. Also, it'd be sweet if I could speak like four languages, like some people in Europe who just grow up and they're like, yeah, I speak like four languages. Yeah, I know. I mean, it's a lot of work, but also wouldn't that be great? Yeah. Well, this is true. If you just grow up with it and it's the norm, I really do think there's something wrong with the way that we teach. Okay. So there is a thing about podcast dogs. She loves to catch flies. She's like the

Mr. Miyagi. Yeah. She's been eating flies all day, mate. I know. And I sort of kind of like, I respect it. I respect it too. It's awesome. Cause it's always annoying me. And then she just eats the fly. It's also good for you because you used to be the one in the family to eat the fly before we got the dog. So it's been really good. Like the amount of time that you've freed up. It took me a while to teach her. It's a lot of like running around on all fours snapping at flies, but she eventually got it. Now I don't have to swallow flies anymore.

Crazy. Like that old lady in the song. Yeah, good song. There was an old lady that swallowed a fly. I don't know why she followed a fly. Perhaps she'll die. I don't think you'll die if you swallow flies. I should know. I've swallowed a lot in my time. know why she followed a fly. Perhaps she'll die. I don't think you'll die if you swallow flies. I should know. I swallowed a lot in my time.

Follow flies are the most delicious. You can get anything you need with Uber Eats. Well, almost, almost anything. So no, you can't get snowballs on Uber Eats. But meatballs and mozzarella balls, yes, we can deliver that. Uber Eats. Get almost, almost anything. Order now. Product availability may vary by region. See app for details. I was going to talk about the great hack, but it's like, you get it. Facebook's ruining everybody's lives and data's being mined

and none of our thoughts are our own and the world's fucking ruined. So forget all that. Go eat some chocolate shell ice cream and eat some flies. It's what I'm going to talk about, something I'd heard of but never seen. It's called Invader Zim. And it's this show that only ran for 27 episodes from like 2001 to very early 2002. So it was promptly cancelled so long ago that I was in school

when this thing came out, if you can believe that. It was by Johan Vasquez and he made it for Nickelodeon. So off the back of like Rocko's Modern Life and Rugrats and Real Monsters, all those shows that I used to love as a kid. And it almost acts like, it feels like a precursor to like Rick and Morty, like even the font of the show or whatever. and like the animation so it's not the same but it's real left of center kind of wacky space adventures kind of stuff but basically uh it's this alien called Zim who's sent to earth as who's from this like a martyr of of aliens that just go around conquering different planets and so he's sent to earth like as a joke

to kind of prepare for an invasion so he's on his own and he's got this dropkick robot, which they give him because they don't give him a real one to help him on his mission. And he's got this really superficial human disguise. And because he's tiny, he goes to which is probably not going to happen because nobody from where he's from respects him. And the boy trying to stop him. And it's like darkly funny and it's really weird and niche and like well ahead of its time. And it also was one of the first shows, and I did it before Futurama because I looked into this, where they incorporate 3D animation into 2D animation. And that's like people do that all the time now. It's in everything. But that was really uncommon and expensive for the time.

So when like a ship lands, you see like all sides of it and it spins and you know what I mean. Do you know what I'm talking about? It's like 3D animation, but it's designed to look like a cartoon. It's in everything. All right. You probably wouldn't notice it because it's mostly seamless now. Yeah, I wouldn't.

Yeah, but anyway. All I'm thinking of, I have to interrupt you, all I'm thinking about because you were talking about monsters is that show Don't You Open That Trap Door. Don't you open that trap door. Sorry, and that's where my brain has been. You know how that show ended? But Alien.

Do you know how that show ended? That looks like a man. No. I do that every day. It's basically this clay motion show called Trap Door. I loved it. That's why because you were talking about like Rugrats. That's where my brain went.

I tuned out. I'm sorry. That's fine. And every day, they're like, don't open the trapdoor. Because he worked with this monster upstairs. And every day the trapdoor would open and a monster would come out. And the very last episode he quit. He's like, I'm leaving.

And I'm like, oh my. He's actually leaving. I remember that. Oh my God. My brain has exploded in a nostalgia bubble. And I'm like, he's actually – I remember that. My God, my brain has exploded in a nostalgia bubble. And I'm like, he's free. He's free of that monster that, like, you know, keeps him upstairs – that lives upstairs that you never really see.

But then after the credits he comes back and he's like, you didn't really think I'd go. And I'm like, oh, Burke, you were free. You could have gone anywhere. You could have lived your dream. Now you're back. What are you doing? The trackball is just going to open again.

Anyway, colleagues, put that down below as well anyway uh you love that show that just just i'm nearly done but basically to show like how detailed the show was and expensive for the time was for an 11 to 12 minute show which is kind of how they're they're blocked out these these episodes you'd have 80 to 120 pages of storyboards but invader zim did 250 to 350 and that's the kind of detail that they're kind of putting into it. And you wouldn't know, like watching it now, if you're like,

this is from six years ago, whatever, but like, yeah, it is like, it's really, it's that good. But anyway,

the reason I bring it up is because recently there was a movie that got revitalized recently after like 16 years, 17 years, there's just a movie on Netflix and they went, Invader Zim's back, here's a movie. It's out of nowhere. I don't know up to it yet. Cause I'm still working my way through the series,

but I just think I love this era where you can bring back stuff like this. I don't think everything needs to come back because people are like, bring back Firefly, you know, Firefly. Yeah, I do love Firefly. Yeah, Firefly's great. I enjoyed that too. That's a sci-fi TV show. It's been a long time.

Yeah, they'd all be pretty old, like our age. Most of them look pretty good, but some of them are terrible and Joss Whedon's had his problems, like personal, and also he did Justice League or whatever. Oh, poor Joss Whedon. Yeah, but I just think the ship has sailed. But what I'm saying, yeah, but some things can come back, which is good.

Like The Dark Crystal has come back on Netflix. A movie that I watched way too late. Yeah, you did because I loved it because I also really love Labyrinth and you didn't watch Labyrinth either with David Bowie. Yeah. Oh, by the way. I've seen it. We should do a whole episode of David Bowie because, oh, my gosh,

that man, just like so incredible. Anyway, I won't talk about him today but Labyrinth, a classic, I showed you, couldn't have cared less. I think you have to watch it at a certain time in your life and The Dark Crystal the same. Yeah, then that amazing puppetry. But apparently people are talking about this new show, whatever it's called. The Dark Crystal.

It's a prequel to the movie. They reckon it's incredible. Really? I've been meaning to click on it, but every time I almost do, I do that whole thing that you kind of don't want it to ruin your memory of it. Apparently it's better. Really? Well, I mean because when I tried to watch The Dark Crystal again,

at the time I remember thinking the puppetry was incredible, but I think once you have seen. No, no, it still is because it's like Jim Henson. Yeah. All the amazing puppetry comes from that studio. Yeah, it's such a spooky world too and heartbreaking stories. I remember it just being really heart-wrenching. I just remember about being there to get a crystal or something.

I don't know. Was it about getting a crystal? That's like all the things that you watch. What about the Infinity Stones? That's basically all the things that you love. They're gems, they're not crystals, Claire. I hate to get pedantic, but the dumb thing I like is better than the dumb thing you like.

Well, I haven't actually, to be fair, watched that yet. That's why I haven't recommended it, but I plan to. All right, interesting. Okay, I'm glad it's got good reviews. Yeah, people are loving it. What about are you going to talk about Mindhunter, are you? No, I'm not, but I have been watching because you recommended Mindhunter on a previous episode

and I have been watching it and I can't stop watching it even though I really shouldn't be watching it because I'm having nightmares every night. But it's so fascinating. It's all about hunting serial, like, well, before the term serial killer was really created and these two guys decided to go out and interview everybody.

I know, Claire, because I've watched it and we've talked about it. Okay, well, anyway, I finally got around. Do you see why I brought a baseball bat, Claire? Yeah, I do. My God, you were watching it alone. Jesus. Also, what I like about that show is the horror of it isn't just like you don't see the horrible rape and murder and all those kind of things

because you don't need to. No. And so I like that it focuses on the investigative. Journalism. And the data gathering of it all. Yeah, that's what I find interesting and that's why I actually skip over quite a lot of the graphic because I didn't realise, I thought it was more of a doco but it's not, it's a TV show.

Yeah, but it's very much based on real interviews and real everything. Yeah, and I find all the in-between interesting because I find the idea of someone finding out a new idea. And what tends to happen always when people have new ways of doing stuff is that everyone tells you you're an idiot until you prove them wrong. And I often think that there must be so many people out there, and I've done this myself, come up with a brilliant idea, get no, and think, oh, it must have been dumb. And I mean, not all ideas are great, obviously, but that you really have to persist because,

you know, just because no one's done it before doesn't mean it's not great. Yeah, but it might be crap. Yeah, it might be crap, but you know, you'll never find out unless you give it a bell. Yeah, but if you do do it, you might embarrass yourself. Chocolate shell ice cream topping, mate. Someone had to invent that. Okay. Can I talk about my next recommendation?

I'm ready. Out of the doom and gloom of mind-hunting, whatever it is. Okay, it is Younger, the TV show on Netflix. Oh, my God, Claire, why are you talking about TV shows? You don't even like the TV show Younger. I do, I do, because it's in its sixth season, right? So I think the first- Even Jess Perkins thinks it's going downhill. Yeah, I know, but Jess and I still because it's in its sixth season, right? So I think the first – Even Jess Perkins thinks it's going downhill.

Yeah, I know, but Jess and I still love it. That's the thing. You can hate on a show but still love watching it. Jess and I were talking about it over Twitter and I thought it's time. The universe has told me I need to talk about it. Okay, so you hate me watching this. No, actually, I think it's like breezy and fun. It's breezy and fun.

It's a great antidote to like The New Cycle and Mindhunter, which is I feel very similar at the moment to how terrifying it can be. Anyway, so it's produced by Darren Star, based on the novel by Pamela Redmond-Saturn. Darren Star of Sex and the City, is that right? No. I think he is. Oh, Darren Star of Sex and the City.

Yes, he is, definitely. And Melrose Place. Sorry, I thought you meant Pamela Redmond-Saturn. She wasn't Sex and the City. Anyway, so it stars Liza who is 40 years old and trying to get back into the publishing world after she's raised her daughter. Give up. You passed it, girlfriend.

Well, but it's the thing. She's faced a lot of ageism and no one wanted to employ her even as an intern and so she fakes her age. And to be honest, she's a very beautiful Broadway actress and it's almost plausible that she could pass as a 20-something millennial, almost, because she's just very youthful and fun. She's got quite a goofy, hilarious kind of vibe about her as well. Yes.

So that's the basic premise. She then gets a job at a publishing house where Hilary Duff's character, Kelsey Peters, is also working. She moves in. She's going through a divorce. So she moves in, which is kind of what started this whole thing. She moves in with her lesbian friend, Maggie, who is played by Demi Mazar, who's also just hilarious and very sharp-tongued.

She's very funny, yeah. She's got a lisp, but she's great. She's just awesome. Really kick-ass. She's an artist. She has a lisp? Yeah, she does have a lisp. But she's really great. And then she's the intern to this

publishing executive, Diana Trout, who's played by Miriam Shaw. And Diana happens to be my favourite character. She's so great. She's really funny. She's got kind of very, she's quite vain, but she's got a deeper side to her. She's very kick-ass. She wears

just incredible jewellery. Because it's set in New York City, it's got a vibe side to her. She's very kick-ass. She wears just incredible jewellery because it's set in New York City. It's got a vibe of Sex and the City but much less, I don't know, it doesn't take itself too seriously. It's quite light and breezy. The costumes are brilliant. The New York City setting is brilliant. It deals with a lot of really interesting themes around millennials and the workplace and love and relationships.

Like what kind of latte are they going to get? How am I going to pay my rent? No, it really talks about current things that millennials and I think the culture is talking about at the moment, which I think is really interesting. There's a season where they have an author of their, it's really Game of Thrones but called something different. They deal with like sexism in the workplace, ageism, racism, homophobia.

They deal with themes of like an older woman dating a younger guy, which is what Liza's character does for a while called Josh, who's a tattoo artist and kind of all of the perception around that and parenting. And he becomes a dad in the sixth season and that's really cool because he's a very hands-on involved father. And so it really just talks about the culture that we're in at the moment and it's just fun and lighthearted.

How do you feel? And sexy. It's very sexy. It's so sexy. Charles, she has sort of like a very hot and steamy chemistry with Charles who's like the head of the publishing house. Spoiler alert, they get together at some point. Oh, don't ruin it.

Yeah, but how do you feel? Because often shows will pair people off and then they lose interest. Correct. A classic example of that being Dean Cain and Terry Patchett from Lois and Clark. I actually did really love that show. But then the show, as soon as you found out and they were together, it was like it was over.

So do you think this show is on borrowed time now that that's happened or do you think they've normally got one breakup in them before it's kind of all over? Yeah, it's definitely following that path. At the moment they're trying to like she got with, spoiler alert, but she's with Charles and now like she was with Josh and so they're doing this sort of love triangle. It's a real big Aiden situation, Claire, if you ask me. No, it's definitely got a different vibe.

Sex in the City was much more hedonistic, I want to say, and self-involved. Yeah, exactly. This is much more of the time. It's moved forward. Hilary Duff's character also looks a lot at what it's like to be a woman in power and a young woman in power and how you're treated really differently.

Yes. And also about older women, which is what I think is great in this. Diana Trout, her character is what, in her 40s? Yeah. And dealing with the idea of being an older woman and still being taken seriously and also being perceived as sexy, which I think there's like a stigma around that. And there's also the stigma around obviously because the reason she pretends to be younger.

It's because she can't get a job. She can't get a job. Which genuinely is a major problem, particularly for women. I mean, we've talked about this before, but for women, we're the biggest demographic moving into homelessness in our sixties. With lack of super and job security. Yeah, exactly. Because often what happens is once women have kids, they drop out of the workforce, so they automatically have less super. And then if something happens to their partner or their children or whatever for whatever reason.

Or people for us or whatever, yeah. Yeah, or their husband just chooks off with a younger person or something, you can really end up with less skills and not a lot of super in all sorts. Absolutely. And I think there's also an older, not just women but also men, find this too as an older generation trying to get employed if you lose your job in your 50s is a nightmare. And I think also women who have been mothers and maybe stayed home for a long time, re-entering

the workforce can be hugely challenging. So it looks at that as well. And ageism is a real thing. So- And it's interesting because I know we're- We're hitting it 29 minutes. We've got to finish. Because you initially chose teaching as a career simply because

that it was a workforce that you can move in and out of. Yeah, one of the reasons. I mean, I loved it because I love working with kids and creativity, but I genuinely, a lot of my teachers at school asked me, one of them particularly said, why are you doing teaching? You could do anything. Just a two-mile at home, but I do quite well at school. Nobody's ever said that to me. That's interesting. I get why you're doing teaching, they would say. Yeah, I get it. You're about this level.

Anyway, but I honestly did it because I could foresee having kids and I wanted to do something that wasn't stuck. I never wanted to do a nine to five office job. I knew that. I wanted to work creatively. And I thought that teaching, because I love working with kids, but mainly because it would have the flexible holidays. Yeah. And I just thought, even though I had no boyfriend at the time, hadn't had a boyfriend, thought versus thinking long term. I like to think ten years in advance, James.

I haven't thought a second in advance ever, which is why we're well over time. We are. All right. I think in Sex and the City 3 they were going to make a third movie and Big was going to die in it. And I was like, thank God. Thank God that Chris did.

They might have redeemed it, but I don't think so. No, they definitely haven't. It should have been 12 minutes long and then Big dies and then the movie's over. Okay, here we go. We've got, okay. I've got some reviews. If you want to review the show, you can do that just through your iTunes app or whatever app that you've got.

This one says, kind of adorable. It's from Jeremy, but not all the way adorable. I bought that salad book from that Aussie bike girl who liked to throw salads at people or whatever app that you've got. This one says, kind of adorable. It's from Jeremy, but not all the way adorable. I bought that salad book from that Aussie bike girl who liked to throw salads at people or whatever. Based on this podcast, wife loves it. Hearing the back and forth and trying to sell each other is fun. Hashtag don't trust horses. That's right, Jeremy.

Trust them every day, mate. Don't trust them. All right, I have got D. Hay Wood has recommended me some music. Hey, James and Claire, love the show. I had a listen to Courtney Bunnett and she's fantastic. She is. Not just great music but fantastic lyrics. Agreed.

I wanted to give back and recommend some great female bands and artists that she reminded me of. All three artists are from Canada and are starting to gain some acclaim worldwide. The first one is Beaches, an all-girl alt rock band from Toronto who are excellent. I know Beaches. I love them.

It's in the movie. The second is Alice Merton. I don't know her, who has a sort of a funky, unique style but holds one of my favourite albums of the year. And finally, July Talk is a rock band from Toronto with one male and one female singer, and they're amazing with really real lyrics backed by some rockin' tunes. Thanks for the awesome podcast.

Well, thanks, D.A. Wood. Thanks, D.A. Wood. They all sound brilliant. Definitely going to listen. I do really like Beaches. You can hit us up on Suggestible Pod on Twitter and Instagram if you've got something to Suggestible Pod. That'd be great.

This is the end of the show, isn't it? Yeah, please leave us a review. I'm MrSundayMovies. I'm at Claire Tonti on Instagram and at Mr. Sunday Movies on Twitter because I'm shameless and self-promotion. Live your bloody life, everybody. All right, we're real over. Bye.

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