Suggestible - The Spookiest Time of Year

Episode Date: October 27, 2022

Suggestible things to watch, read and listen to. Hosted by James Clement @mrsundaymovies and Claire Tonti @clairetonti.This week’s Suggestibles:05:14 Practical Magic14:38 Significant Other25:58 Star Wars: Andor27:24 Flatbread?30:15 Transformers: DevastationSend 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.

Hi, this is Katnett Unfiltered. If you know us, then you know that we do almost everything together, so accommodating seven kids and seven adults on vacation can be challenging. So, we Airbnb it. And if you have a spare room in your house, you can Airbnb it. It's that simple. You can even Airbnb your whole house while you are away. You could be sitting on an Airbnb and not even know it.

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. There's a surge of a surge of feeling, I should say, of energy. And life and joie de vivre. That's me. That's Claire Twente, always full of energy and hyped up, hyped to be here on Suggested Podcast,

the podcast where we recommend you things to watch, read and listen to. My name is Claire Twente. James Clement is here also. We are married and it's my least favourite time of the year. It's the spooky season. Tax time. What? It's Halloween.

Oh. Good God. Are you trying to speed run this episode? Yeah, I want to go to bed. Oh, my goodness. No shade. No, I'm really excited about the choice that I panicked and did a last minute look, as you know I like to do.

Also, I'm professional. My phone's not even off. Unbelievable. And I deep dived and I panicked and then I remembered something about something that I love and I prepared this ages ago and like found some things and I was like really proud of myself. I'm also getting a fiddle thing because I like to fiddle with people. Pass me a fiddle thing, Claire.

All right. We have – oh, no. Oh, no. I dropped them everywhere. So because we both like to fiddle. It's true. Yes. And because it's –

And – Poor Collingfield. Oh, you took the wheel. Yeah, I know. The wheel's the best Yes. And because it's – Poor Collingfield. Oh, you took the wheel. Yeah, I know. The wheel's the best one. Of course it is. What did you think I was? I'm no noob.

I'm no fool. It's actually a little thing that I bought for neurodivergent kids I was teaching. Turns out we really love them. Yeah, that's right. What does that say? Who knows? Who knows? But because it's Spooky's time of the year and I'm not just talking about tax time,

we've both brought in a spooky recommendation. But before we go to that – Can I go spooky tax time. We've both brought in a spooky recommendation. But before we go to that. Can I go spooky every time? Yeah, you absolutely can. And on top of that. Spooky. We just wanted to check back in and see how you're going with reading Project Hail Mary. Okay.

So I have to also say this to you. I remembered this week that I needed to read it. Okay. Did I open it? No. Did I download it on the Kindle? No. This is not a win. But did I think about it a lot and feel guilty that I wasn't read it. Okay. Did I open it? No. Did I download it on the Kindle? No. This is not a win.

But did I think about it a lot and feel guilty that I wasn't reading it? You're damn right I did. This is absolutely not a win. So it is on the road. It is in the case. What kind of? Listeners, stick with it. I know there's many other things you can be listening to on the internet

with much more riveting story arcs. I will read this book. It's not happening today. It's over. Listen, I'm going to give you one more week and it's over. It's finished. You don't get to decide when it's over. If there's one thing you know I don't.

Let me tell you. I do not abide long-running jokes. You know that. You love a long-running joke. You have long-running jokes that happened in the womb that you're like, now how old are you? 39? I'm 42.

And you're still holding on to that long-running joke. So I will read this goddamn Hail Mary book when I damn well please and no one, including the patriarchy, will tell me what to do and when I should read this book. Time is a construct, as I've discussed with you before. It is in my future to read this book. Is it this week? No.

I just want to, okay, so. That is neither here nor further. Are you feeling guilty? Fither nor nor further. Are you feeling guilty? Fither nor fither. Are you feeling guilty? Fiddle or piddle. Or is time a construct? I don't know.

I'm bored by this conversation. Let's move on. Let's get on with our recommendation. No, I just want to nail down your feelings on this because you threw a bunch of stuff out there. So you're feeling guiltier about it, but you're also proud that you thought of it. Yeah, I am. And it's the patriarchy.

And you don't forget about it. And time is a construct. So, you know, that's not all the same through life. You know that, right? Yes, but people who understand people like me will understand exactly what I'm saying. No. It's the structure.

It's the vibe. It's Mabo. It's the patriarchy. Again. There's no time for anything. Just say you're not going to do it. I'm doing it. Just opt out.

James, I will do it. Before I die, I will read this goddamn book. No. I will. I'm doing it. Just opt out. James, I will do it. Before I die, I will read this goddamn book. No. I will. I absolutely will. At one point I was like, could I just lie? I would have quizzed you. I would have absolutely quizzed you. You would not have gotten away with that. Give me the false book report. I am going to read this book. You already gave me a book report on it. Anyway, psych. What does that even mean, psych? I don't know. Who knows? Anyone know anything? I don't know. Probably not. All I'm saying is, James,

cut a woman some goddamn slack and let's move on. It's so boring. No one is interested anymore. I will read it, though. Yeah. No, we people love people who break lies. Break lies? Make lies. Break truths. Break lies. Make lies.

Break truths. I'm not lying. Our son does that all the time when I'm like, oh, mate, we can't go yet. He's like, you lied. You lied to me. And I'm like, I just said we were leaving at 9 and it's now 9.05. Please put your shoes on. Everything will be fine.

But you lied. You said it was 9. Also, he catches me all the time when I'm just on the bed looking at my phone. Yeah. I say I'm going to have a shower and then I go and like send emails from the bedroom and he comes in and he's like, what? Just a goddamn second? Just, yeah.

He's talking to someone who's never looked at a clock. Yeah. So anyway, what's the spooky recommendation that you made this week? He told me this week he was really going to knock my socks off. Like physically punch you so you'd fly out of your socks? No, I think it was to surprise me with the fact about Mario, which I was not surprised by. Yeah, he's loving Mario Odyssey at the moment.

Great guy. That is all he talks about. And you, ad nauseum, you talk about film and that's it. It's true. God, I'm just stuck. Can we just do this now then? Oh, yeah. Okay.

Sorry. Halloween. My turn first? My turn first. I'm so excited. All right. I want to talk about Practical Magic, the movie. You've talked about Practical Magic.

No, I haven't. Yes, you have. Let me go back to the episode. No. Okay. Well, I'll come back. It's definitely come up. Has it?

Well, I'm talking about it again because I love it. I haven't done it for Halloween. I'm sure I haven't. Anyway, people love to revisit a cult classic movie that flopped at the box office. Has it? Well, I'm talking about it again because I love it. I haven't done it for Halloween. I'm sure I haven't. Anyway, people love to revisit a cult classic movie that flopped at the box office starring Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman that's very, very witchy and wonderful. So just in case people aren't familiar, it's based on the 1995 novel of the same name by Alice Hoffman and it's directed by Griffin Dunn

and obviously stars Sandra and Nicole with Stockard Channing, Diane West, Aidan Quinn and Goran Viznikic. Goran Viznikic. That guy. Yes. And the storyline is so wonderful. Stockard Channing? What the fuck name is that? Well, who knows?

Don't make fun of people's names, Stig. I will. Just because you've got the world's most boring name. Yeah. Honestly. Let me tell you the story of this wonderful movie. In the small Massachusetts town, the Owens family. What are you doing?

You're reading from my notes. No. Keep going. You're reading my notes. I'm just guessing what you're going to say. Keep going, please. You're so annoying. Keep going.

Are you reading from my notes? How would I read from your notes? Because they're in my phone, in Google, in the shared Google drive. I don't have access to any of your notes. Please continue. So annoying. You're really annoying me now. Anyway, Gillian and Sally Owens are taken in by their aunts, Frances and Jet, after

both their parents succumb to the Owens curse. Now, the Owens curse turned out to be a curse that was performed by their ancestor where eventually the line of women, whoever they fall in love with, the person dies. Basically. Yes, correct. Exactly. More like impractical magic, am I right? Very impractical.

As children, Sally and Gillian are frequently ridiculed by the town's school children after witnessing their aunts cast a love spell for a woman obsessed with their beloved. Sally casts a spell on herself to ensure she will only fall in love with a man who possesses certain impossible traits with the goal that she will never fall in love. Meanwhile, Jillian, Nicole Kidman's character, goes the opposite. She goes sexy time hard and sleeps with lots of men and is just like constantly flying around the world

like having sex with terrible people. It's got Rachel Wood in it from various things, but Westworld. Wow. There you go. Wait, so is Nicole Kidman murdering men in this? No, but they just happen to die and she's very kind of blasé about, well, because of the curse. So she's murdering men.

She's a murderer. She's a serial killer. Yeah, it's a Halloween. This is a praying mantis woman. It's a Halloween. What's so interesting about this is that when it came out, the critics were like, nah, too scary for children, but too childish for adults, and they couldn't really pitch it.

But actually it's just this glorious celebration of these women who don't necessarily need men as well, which is amazing. The aunt's house is so fantastic in it. Her aunts are amazing, and they are played by, as I said, Stockard Channing, who plays Francis Owen, who you might remember as Rizzo from Grease, who is just my favourite character in Grease and just incredible and great and super witchy. And she's really frank and assertive. And Diane West plays Bridget Jett Owens, the other aunt, who is kind of kind and gentle. And there's this

incredible scene. So obviously what plays out is that Jillian, Nicole Kidman's character, eventually comes back with a bad boyfriend who's bad news and because her sister is really loyal to her, they end up plotting and they sort of kill him by accident. And then he comes back and sort of like haunts them. As a ghost? Kind of. Like a spooky zombie man.

Spooky ghoul man. And so at the same time, Sandra Bullock falls in love with the detective who is suspicious of the Owens family. Aidan Quinn. Correct. Exactly. And so there's a kind of a sexy romance that happens between Sandra Bullock's character and the police officer.

But she's also the whole time terrified that he's going to die because she's a witch of the curse. By all different means. Like, for example, Sandra Bullock's first husband, who she falls in love with and everything, gets hit by a truck. Okay. But there's no pattern. It's just however they die, they die.

Right. So there is one really, there's kind of one really amazing scene and then I think one really interesting scene. And so the amazing scene I want to talk about first. I think there's a bunch of other shit. Yeah. That's just going on. All right.

Arguably the best scene in the film is when the Owens women, so it's like the sisters and their aunts, dance drunkenly to Harry Nilsson's Coconut while downing midnight margaritas. And what I find so great about that scene, it's so joyful and so it's like sexy and free and fun and witchy and also they were actually really drunk because Nicole Kidman bought bad tequila and then apparently the cast and the crew, all of them plus the cameraman, were all drunk. So it's kind of a miracle that they got that scene

and they all kept dancing after the cameras turned off. And you can tell. It's just got this like really joie de vivre vibe going on about it. She's all been married to Tom Cruise and he's like, I don't drink and I'm weird and Scientology. All the things. So I really love that. The Victorian style house that they live in, the aunts live in,

was so cool that Barbra Streisand tried to buy it but turns out it wasn't actually a real house. It was a set. It was a set. It was a set, which I also just bloody love. And then the thing I wanted to talk about, which I also found really interesting and is much more in the line of our spooky theme, I think Nicole Kidman is a particularly mystical, witchy human, obviously.

She is very ethereal. And there's a scene where her bad boyfriend, who's very abusive, they decide to try and perform a violent exorcism on him. And so in the scene, she insists on slamming her head against the floor during it. And so they had to install rubber panels to try and protect her from the blows. And Dunn says, I just remember her take after take slamming her head. She looked totally possessed. I mean, I think she brought on a rash. Her skin would go bright red from white to red to white

and waves of, you know, purging. It was like really intense. So, you know, Nicole Kidman kind of completely embodies her characters and her method I find like she's just got such a hard work ethic. Like she chooses really just great roles and really diverse and often quite strange roles and she'll do small films as well as like giant blockbusters. And I think as I've spoken about many times, she is just a genius.

What's your favourite Nicole Kidman witch movie? Is it this movie or is it the movie Bewitched from 2005? Oh, that's a pretty terrible movie. You had to choose. This one. That's a pretty terrible movie. Anyway, you choose. This one. That's a pretty terrible movie. Anyway, you know, followed second by Australia where she doesn't play a witch but she does sing Somewhere Over the Rainbow.

Horrible movie. Not so good. Anyway, yeah, she hasn't always made amazing films but I think she always makes interesting choices. No, I think she's pretty consistent and she's always good. Yeah, I enjoyed Nine Perfect Strangers as well. She was very mystical. Which movie?

The Lion, Ilium, Moriarty movie, that one. Anyway, that is my recommendation for Halloween. And I just, I bloody love it. That is my idea of a slightly borderline spooky time but fun. But it's fun. But it's fun. It's just women. And it's like 90s.

Listen, I hate to be one of these guys who's like, what about men, Claire? I hate to be one of these guys. But imagine if this story was two men, warlocks, weird-looking warlock dudes, and they're bros, and they're from a family of warlocks of when they sleep with one another. I know what you're saying. It's so boring. It's such a boring story.

I know. You're like, what if they were to – what do you mean about every fucking slasher movie forever that just murders women all of the time? Yeah, but what if, though, as I'm saying? That's my point. No, every bloody horror movie from here till Timbuktu has been made with like torturing women. I'm flipping it, Claire.

It's not even an interesting concept. A lot of people don't think. They don't think, Claire, but I like to think, you know. I'm outside the box. Everyone knows you're not outside the box. Everyone knows you are thoroughly inside the box. You are the most white bread person. You love the most mainstream things.

You just pitched the movie Practical Magic and you're calling me white bread. Look, you just happen to love the most popular franchises globally. Claire, you don't even know half the weird shit that I watch that I never talk about. Yeah, I don't want to know. I don't know what kind of weird

rabbit man hole you... Just because I have to watch four Dwayne the Rock Johnson movies a year, it makes me angry. It makes you so angry. And please let's not go down the rock rabbit hole. I already have. I just sit and listen to you feel all your feelings while you're making a thumbnail about The Rock for like an hour

and I realised in that moment that I've married you and I've made an error. No, I didn't. I actually find it really joyful when you find that kind of, when your brain opens up because it doesn't always happen and suddenly you open up your mind palace and you're like, look at all the weird shit that's in here. And then you kind of see my face and you're like, oh, I better quickly. I'm going to reel that back in.

Pack all of that back in. No, keep putting it out. No, I will not. I like all of that. People get a full blast of me like on the internet. It's like, I think it's my weirdest stuff where in real life I'm like, hello, I'm normal. No, everyone knows you're not normal. People at the surface, people would be like, he's probably normal.

No. No? No. Who's talking shit about me? No, I can tell. No. Because, like, you barely ever see anyone. That's not true.

I see a lot of people. You're there for like 10 minutes and you ghost. I see a lot of people. Yeah. Always looking at people. Always watching. Yeah, through the window. Like a normal man.

Or with sunglasses on. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, completely. No, no, but normal's overrated. Yeah, through the window. Like a normal man. With sunglasses on. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, completely. No, but normals are overrated. Yeah, I guess so. Normal doesn't really exist. People don't know. I'm normal.

Listen, Claire, I watched a movie. It's a Spooky's Time movie. You're going to be so smug. You're so Fred. Look, I'm an artist, James. I've been working on my album. I don't have time. Yes, yes, yes.

I don't have time to be watching obscure spooky time things. And I have to watch a bunch of this and for the weekly plan. That's how committed I am to the spookiest time of the year and not tax time. I watched a movie called Significant Other. Here's the synopsis, Claire. Why do you say synopsis like that? What do you care?

It's my creativity outlet. It's my outlet. Your creativity outlet. It's my creativity outlet. You make it sound like a store you buy creativity from. Sinister events plague a young couple when they take a backpacking trip through the forests of the Pacific Northwest. Is there multiple Wests?

I thought there was just one. Northwest, the one, singular. So a couple, they've been together for a while. One of them is played by Macon Munro who was recently in The Watcher, which I think I talked about here. Did I talk about that, the woman being watched? Yes, you did. Incredible movie.

If you haven't seen it and you can handle like the suspense of it, fucking unreal. I wish I was recommending that movie again, which I am actually. Check it out. She's great. She was also in It Follows and also stars Jake Lacey who was also recently, he was in a bunch of stuff, came on a few later seasons of The Office. He was also in the one where they go to that resort

and everybody's the worst and he's the bad husband guy. He's like the rich husband guy in it. Oh, yes, yes, yes. It's him. Anyway, it's directed by Dan Burke and Robert Olsen. And so it starts with you see the woods and you see a red meteor is crashing and you're like, what see a red meteor is crashing and you're like, what's a red meteor crashing?

What's this about? Is it a bird? Is it a plane? It's a bird. It's a big bird. Superman. Whoops. So anyway, so they're camping alone.

They're doing this trail for about a week. There's no reception and there's maybe a deer following them at some point. They're like, is this the same deer? Is this deer be following us? What's going on here? And it's kind of a mix, Claire, if you've allowed me to mash some things together. It's kind of a mix of Predator, the movie Annihilation,

the Cloverfield movie, some of those movies. Yes. Why are deer so spooky? Because they're often spooky. I don't think they're that spooky. They're like kangaroos. Are kangaroos spooky? They're often in movies to create like suspense and mood in a forest.

Sometimes they're just – well, they're like kangaroos. They're just around. Yeah, I don't know. There's something about them. Why do you hate deers so much? I don't like them. I don't like their business. I don't like what they do.

You know what's actually crazy? Not spooky but more like crazy. Have you ever seen like a moose, like the size of a moose? No. I always think they're like deer-sized but they're like – it's like bigger than a horse. Like you'll see them walking next to cars. They're enormous.

Yeah. That's crazy. Yeah. What would you do with a moose? What would you, nothing. You don't have to do anything. What do you mean? Take it to dinner?

What do you mean? Go go-karting? What are you talking about? If you bumped into one, like what would you do? I don't think they're super aggressive. Would you do? I don't think they're super aggressive. Would you run? Would you just kind of go, you're a moose, and walk away,

back away slowly? Are they friendly? Are they aggressive? Aggressive. Here we go. Do they step on you? I feel like they will step on your toes. Normally mooses are not aggressive. However, a moose that is stressed, a bull moose in a full rut

or a cow moose protecting their young may be easily provoked into an attack. Oh, not a loose moose. No full rut or a cow moose protecting their young may be easily provoked into an attack. Oh, not a loose moose. No. You wouldn't want that. And I just said moose moose show. A moose ready for abuse. Some of the following behaviors.

Abuse of the moose, did you say? That's pretty good, Claire. That's pretty good. A moose ready for abuse. Yeah. So neck and back hair standing up, ears going back against its head. Wow, that is terrifying. That is a lot.

Do you remember that great rhyme that I used to sing when the kids and I was teaching? There's a great big moose who likes to drink a lot of juice. Yeah, sing. Whoa. So good. The other thing I love about mooses is that book, The Goose, the Moose and the Watermelon Juice.

It's classic. It's great. I keep trying to get my son to enjoy it. He doesn't enjoy it. But I love it. He's too busy looking at the clock being a kid. Yeah, he really is. He's always just like, can you concentrate?

No, I can't. Yeah. I have too many things in my brain. Anyway, get on with your spooky time. Yeah, can you concentrate? Because so basically it's, you know, there's a few twists and turns along the way and I don't really want to get into the specifics. Do you have scares?

Yeah, a little bit. Yeah. What is actually going on and who's who and what's going on. And there was a moment in there where you think, I thought one thing was going on and then a different thing was going on and I'm like, a second thing going on? Anyway, I wouldn't call it, like, amazing, but it's pretty good.

Do you say it's similar to James Sherry, Amazing, the game show? Oh, nothing's that amazing. That was art-mazing. That was my dream to go on that show and I never did. I think we've talked about this before. The key, it's always in the letterbox. Or behind the cactus. It's in the cactus.

Get faster. Why are you so slow? I was always going to be faster than that. I would crush that maze. I would win that Game Boy. I'd be winning that all week, I reckon. All day, every day. I just wanted the show to come to Melbourne so I could go on it,

but it never did. Why not? I don't know. It's not fair. Anyway, I want to get that. Remember that time we went on Deal or No Deal and we didn't win any money, but then we were on the repeats all the time and the kids at school would be like, you're on Deal or No Deal.

I'm like, oh, yeah, that time I opened a case on live television and got it wrong. Yeah. That's right. We had the absolute pleasure of meeting a strain legend, Andrew O'Keefe, notoriously terrible man. I did win a prize though for karaoke at the break. What did you win?

I can't remember, but I don't know. They didn't like me very much. But Rob Gell who did the in-between didn't like you at all. Okay, boomer men don't like me. They really don't like me. I don't think anybody likes you. I don't think it's just me. I wouldn't narrow it down to so true.

Wow. But I'm fine with it. I don't even like anyone anyway. And I'm the weird one. Do you know, honestly, men in their 60s and 70s, my sister observed this, they just come out of the woodwork when I'm around and get real aggro. I don't know why.

Like that guy that punched me in the leg when I was going for a walk in the park. That was insane. Because I was, to be fair, I have no spatial awareness. So I was walking like right in the middle of the park. But still, that's grass. You were also eight months pregnant and on your own. And I'm allowed to bloody walk in the middle of, actually my mum was walking with me. And she punched me in the leg.

Look, and look, I'm not a violent person, but I think I would have literally strangled that man to death. What was weird, it was such a weird scenario because he had, like, a little cap on and he was, like, shuffling along doing his little run and then he clearly just, like, wanted me to move out of his way. But instead of, like, just going slightly around me onto the grass, it wasn't wet or anything. He just, like, hit my leg with the back of his hand but like quite hard. So it was very much like.

It makes me so mad just hearing that. I just want to fucking Spartan kick that dude in the chest into a fucking river. It's really not appropriate. It's just so weird to me. It's like that time I went to the cafe and there was a big group of like 60-year-old men in there, it's like mid-60s, and I went to the loo.

Ordering flat whites. And I went to the loo and like then they banged on the, the guy banged on the door and was like, I need to go to the toilet. I'm like, well, no. Somebody's in the toilet. You don't need to wait for your turn. And it's the hashtag, it's not everyone. There's some wonderful men that we know in their 60s and 70s.

It's just weird, particularly around me. I just feel like I'm a magnet. It happened the other day in the theater. A guy turned around and told me off. I think I'm very loud. Wait, what were you saying? What did I go and see? Very recently, I can't remember.

Was it during the show? Chat 10 looks 3. Was it during the show? Yeah. He just looked around and, like, gave me a real death stare. What were you chatting about during the show? I wasn't even. I was just laughing.

Nah, he can get fucked. But I laugh very much. Like, I enjoy it. I was loving myself sick with it. You know what? You know my laughing. No, he can get fucked. But I laugh very much. Like I enjoy it. I was loving myself sick with it. You know what? You just gotta, you gotta, you gotta fight. You gotta push back and be like, Hey, go fuck yourself. I know. I do push back. The guy that punched me in the leg, I was eight months pregnant. I turned around and like, you need to be politer. Yeah. That's real pushback. You should. I don't want to get hyper aggressive.

But it's probably, you know, maybe you shouldn't push back. Maybe that's because that's how people get murdered. Oh, look, I just don't. I feel like there was a lot going on. It was during lockdown. People's fragile egos are being dismantled everywhere. You've rolled me up, Claire, by all these stories. You rolled me right up here.

That was my intention. It's a spooky episode. You need to be spooked. I am spooked, Claire. Spooked by my terrible, like, I don't know. I don't know what I'm trying to say. It was not my behavior. It's a spooky episode. You need to be spooked. I am spooked, Claire. Spooked, my terrible, like, I don't know. I don't know what I'm trying to say. It was not my behaviour. It was their behaviour.

God, whenever you say there's a situation and whatever it is and a fucking old head pops up, you're like, here we fucking go. Here's someone who's going to derail everything with irrelevant fucking information. No, let's like, okay, rewind a second. No, but it's the attitude even. It's like just like. No, but there are many people that are older than us.

I'm not talking about that. That's not what I'm talking about. Dear God. Listen, every time it happens to you, you should just say, hey, get the fuck off the planet. You've had enough. Oh, Lord. Give me one of your investment properties.

We don't need it. Please. Give it to somebody else who needs it. Lead poisoning. It's lead poisoning, Claire, as well. I have a friend. What? A lead poisoning? Claire, as well. I have a friend. What? A lead poisoning? They're all fucking lead poisoned.

They're lead-like fucking rubes they slept in. I don't know about that. This is all a very terrible conversation. Though I do have to say a friend of mine who works in the hospital system was telling me that there is a contingent of men in their 80s who consistently come in because their wives have passed away and their wives did everything for them. Yeah, they don't know how to tie their fucking shoes. And they don't know how to do anything. And so when they like being in the hospital system

because they get given meals and they get food delivered to them, that's the same thing. I repeated myself. You know, their room's cleaned. They get it all kind of done. That is really sad. It is kind of sad but he said it's also kind of annoying because they actively could do more to look after themselves

and be more independent. Yeah. But they choose to try and stay as long as they can in the hospital setting because they just have never had to care for themselves so they don't have the skills. It is actually really sad when you think about it as well. Just get you food, man. Get My Muscle Chef.

Get another brand of food. Whatever that is. All your weird food turns up. I just need to eat food quickly, Claire. I don't have time to whatever you're doing, not reading books and singing music. Enjoying things. Enjoy. You've never enjoyed anything.

Eating my above ground vegetables first, which by the way, everyone should do. I have fennel a lot. Fennel's great. I love fennel. There's a woman I used to work with who ate fennel all the time at lunchtime and I was like, what's going on with that fennel? She's eating raw fennel. I'm so there for it now.

It's like my favorite thing to do. I just sit and eat fennel. God. Delicious. Crunchy, fresh. My least favorite thing to do. I just sit and eat fennel. Delicious. My least favourite thing to do is engage in any of this, whatever's happening here, Claire. What's happening here? You're derailing. Just tell your goddamn story about your goddamn spooky time.

On Australia, Significant Other, I would recommend if you like a little spooky time. It's a smaller budget film. Yeah, yeah. It's a little bit mind-bending. Is there a lot of murdering stuff? No. I would say it's not as good as Predator or Annihilation.

Okay. Because those are, like, obviously amazing and classic. Are they? But still. Yes, Claire. But even New Predator, you would actually, I don't think you might even like a New Predator. Yeah.

But it's on Binge in Australia. It's on Paramount Plus in other places in the world. I don't really like watching movies anymore. Yeah? No. Great. Well, this is a good show other places in the world. I don't really like watching movies anymore. Yeah? No. Great. Well, this is a good show that we do then. No, I'm joking.

And it's only 84 minutes long. That's very long. Punch in, punch out. You know what I mean? Yeah. Yeah. I see. 84 minutes.

What's that? An hour and 24. Very good. You're welcome, Matt. Do you have a second recommendation? I do. I do have a second recommendation. Do you want to talk about it?

Do you know what I'll add right now? Do you want me to talk about it? I want to finish Andor. Or do you want to talk about it? I'm watching Andor. It's fucking amazing. What is Andor? I don't want to get into it.

All right. It's probably the best Star Wars thing they've made since the original trilogy, Claire. Okay. And who knew it would be about the character Cassian Andor? Who knew? From a minor character from the movie Rogue One from 2016. I have another spooky recommendation for you.

Boo! Did you get spooked? No, you didn't. Sorry, listeners. That was really loud. I'm sorry, Colin. You didn't spook me at all. Sorry.

Boo! That was Claire as. I'm sorry, Colin. You didn't spook me at all. Sorry. Blah! That was Claire as well. Blah! We're just going to see an old man pop up over the fence. What's bloody going on here? Stay out of it, Ron! Ron. Yeah.

Anyway, do you actually have another one? I do, actually. It's very clever and very short. Okay. People say that about me. They say one of those things. They say that about Mason. Anyway, do you actually have another one? I do actually. It's very clever and very short. Okay. People say that about me. They say one of those things. They've said that about Mason.

How about that? Yeah, that's more accurate. Yeah. I've never said that about you. Thank you. You put the lime in the coconut. I'm just singing that classic song. So that would be a spooky time. And time for the murder of James on the Spooky Podcast.

Spooky. It's Halloween. This Halloween episode is weak. Talking about fennel. For some people that is a terrifying prospect. All right, I want to talk about flatbread. I'm so excited by this. Jesus Christ.

My friend Ellen gave me this recipe. It's so excellent. Pipe down. People like to eat food. Everyone does. I'm so excited by this. My friend Ellen gave me this recipe. It's so excellent. Pipe down. People like to eat food. Everyone does. This is a genius idea, particularly for kids. All you need is Greek yogurt and flour. Oh, I am familiar with this recipe. So clever. And you just combine it. You create a dough. I can put the recipe in there. Well, Colleen's will put the recipe in the show notes below. But basically you just form into a dough, stir it around, form it up, let it rise a little bit, and then you divide it into like little sections. You roll them out into like circles, probably about the size

of like a crumpet. Crumpet. And then you – so they're nice and thin, probably like about a centimetre thick. Then you just put loads of olive oil or butter in the pan and then you just fry them and that's it. That's all you do. And they genuinely are really soft bread consistency. What is it?

Is it the yeast in the yoghurt? I don't think there is any yeast in yoghurt. Is it the confidence of the preparation? What do you mean there's no yeast in yoghurt? No, there's bacteria but it's not yeast. Are you a fool? What do you think the world is? Yoghurt and yeast. Yeast and Are you a fool? What do you think? What do you think this is? What do you think the world is? Yogurt and yeast.

Yeast and yogurt. I just want to clarify, no, yogurt does not typically. Correct. It's got bacteria in it, you goose. I mean, isn't. Who ate the watermelon juice. There was a great big moose. Some grow it.

Called James. Just typically, but not always. I know. This is interesting. Called James. Just typically but not always. I know. This is interesting. I think this is what's happened. I have gone down a giant rabbit hole with this music album and I just finished the last vocal yesterday or the day before. And I don't know if anyone else has been in a creative project

or a PhD or something where they're like, which clearly my music is comparable to a PhD. I'm not saying that at all. However, you fall down. Greek yogurt contains an excellent source of live action cultures, which is yeast. That's not yeast. Yes, it is.

Why are you sitting upright like that? Because I'm right. This is a nightmare. I saw the future of you, 60-year-old, 5-year-old James, and it was bleak. It was you banging on the door. I'm going to pop on my head. I need to go to the toilet. And there's yeast and yogurt.

And there's yeast and yogurt. Move. The world's gone to the dogs. That's you. What else is going to happen to dogs, Oregon? I like dogs. Dogs are great. Yeah, but it's a metaphor, obviously.

What? I mean, I don't know. I don't think the dogs great. Yeah, but it's a metaphor, obviously. What? I mean, I don't know. I don't think the dogs could, like, run a UN council or something. What? Yeah, what? Anyway, you were saying something else about this thing you were talking about. It doesn't make no sense anymore. Nothing makes sense.

What's the thing now? Where were we at? I was looking at yeast. 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.

Everyone knows that nothing and everything matters. All right, that's the end of the show this week, everybody. No, I have a great email. Oh, well, I've got another recommendation. Oh, cool. Okay. Fire away. Are you familiar with Transformers Devastation?

Transformers Devastation is an action hack and slash video game based on the Transformers franchise developed by Platinum Games. They recently was a minor controversy because of their new game, Bayonetta, and it's published by Activision. This was released in 2015, and I never finished it, Claire. I never finished it because we had kids, and I got stuck on 11, and I'm like, I'm sick of infighting all these insecticons, I said, and I turned finished it, Claire. I never finished it because we had kids and I got stuck on 11 and I'm like, I'm sick of infighting all these insecticons, I said, and I turn it off.

Anyway, our son's been asking about ages, like, what's this? And I'm like, it's too hard. You won't like it. Anyway, so I turned down the challenge on it and he just like blasted through it. It's a single player game. That's his one criticism. Every time he plays it, he's like,

this game should have two players, he says, and these are the Autobots you can play as. Optimus Prime, Bumblebee, Sideswipe, Wheeljack, and do you want to take a guess on the last one? That's right. It's Grimlock. No, there's no transformer called Pooh. Now, obviously, as we know.

He transforms into a Pooh and then back into a toilet. Is he a triple changer? Like does he turn into a robot man form? Yeah. So he's a triple changer. He's a triple changer. That's great. So it's a robot and a toilet and a poo.

Is that right? That is 1,000% accurate. Okay. That is how I want to play this. But his name is also poo. Is that right? Okay. That's it.

Anyway, obviously. You've nailed it. Obviously fairly soft but not too soft. Like it's not a runny poo. It has to hold its shape. Of course he does. It is a robot. He's got a robot in there.

Yeah. Now often when transformers change into something, though, they might keep like a mechanical form. So it's hard to replicate organic material. Yes. Does it look like a metal poo or does it look like a poo you would find? It looks like a robot, like a poo that you would imagine a robot taking out.

So it's kind of like all. Taking out? Of what? As in like their bottom. Like do robots poo? No. But if they did, that's what this poo looks like, like kind of like amalgamation of all their parts.

Okay, let's what this poo looks like, like kind of like amalgamation of all their parts. Okay, let's break this down. What is the benefit of a transformer looking like a poo? A robot poo that doesn't exist? It's an approximation of what you'd think it would look like. Does that mean you drop it behind like a Decepticon and you'd be like, who did this? I don't know who did this poo. Yes.

Because we don't poo, do we? It's disguise. Wouldn't it be better to change into like a tank? Everyone avoids dog poo. It looks a bit like dog poo. But it's not though. It's got a film around it. It's got a film around it. Like a brown film.

Inside is like crushed up robot. But on the inside is like brown poo. You've gone mad. And then people would avoid it, but then all of a sudden, it's actually a robot. It like kills you or blasts you with a thing. And then it's like actually no, back into a poo. Occasionally a toilet because also sometimes.

Why the toilet? Because if you're not, if you're inside, it's less likely for there to be a dog pooing, except if you live in our house with a puppy at the moment. So you'd have to hire something else. So you'd hire the toilet. Yeah, but there already is a toilet in all homes. So where's the toilet?

And if you live there, you're going to know if a second toilet turns up. Yeah, but James, you're overthinking this. Am I? Or are you underthinking it? People are just thinking, oh, how convenient, a second toilet in their kitchen. And then they would use that toilet, a toilet they found in their kitchen. Potentially.

That would just go straight to the floor, presumably. Yeah, that would be awkward. This is insane. This is the worst thing you've ever said. I mean, the toilet form is not one they use a lot as a triple changer. It's mainly poo to robot. Back it up. This show, we should cancel it.

And not because we've peaked. This is obviously a trough. Poo to robot. Poo to robot. Anyways. Transformers, more than meets the eye oh I love it in this case it's a poo

now obviously each of the characters have their own benefits and drawbacks Bumblebee is smaller which means he's quicker but his attacks are weaker Optimus Prime is more of a middle ground Grimlock slow but really heavy attacks it's also cel-shaded which means it looks a lot like the 80s cartoon and also brought back all of the voice cast who were still alive.

So I'm talking a Peter Cullen. I'm talking a Frank Welker. Voices of Megatron and Optimus Prime. And in addition to that, due to licensing issues, and I don't know what's happening with the Transformers brand at the moment, it has been removed from digital stores and has been since 2017. So if you want this game, you're going to have to go track down a physical fucking copy like a caveman, Claire.

But it's good and it's worth it if you just like, I remember Transformers, and just if you're like me, just turn the difficult down and just be like, just blast through it or whatever. Right. Cool. A lot of characters show up. In the first five minutes you're like, I'm fighting Devastator.

Incredible. But not like the shit one from the second Michael Bay movie, the one from the original cartoon. He's green and he's purple and not a poo. Claire, do you know you can review the show? It's so easy to do it in app. For example, Richard Johnson, TX, has done this and he's given us five stars just in app.

He's out of choice. He clearly hasn't listened to this episode. God, I hope he hasn't too. He's going to say this back. He says, but turtles are slow. That's the joke, Claire. That's the joke, Claire. That's the joke, Claire.

10 out of 10. Do you remember, Claire? I do remember. I remember exactly. All right. I have an email. You can email suggestapod at gmail.com with better recommendations. And give us a review, please.

And also email us with suggestions just as Tana Moore has now. You might remember Tana Moore. Here he goes. Hello, James and Claire. Hello. It is I, Tana M., the one who brought up Project How Merry all those weeks ago. Oh, yes. Now I just wanted to apologize to Claire for starting this Project How Merry chaos.

It has been. It's been a while. Tana, it's not your fault. I just want to clarify that. Don't apologize. Claire needs to apologize. Has it been hilarious to listen to a lot. Tana, it's not your fault. I just want to clarify that. Don't apologize. Claire needs to apologize. Has it been hilarious to listen to Claire realize she forgot to read it? Yes. Yeah, now she comes back and going, I did remember, but I didn't do it.

Yeah, great. That's not good either. Time is a human construct and eventually I will read it. And the patriarchy and Transformers are poo. Yeah, we know. All right, just let me read Tana's lovely email. Why are you getting so aggressive? Jeez.

Jeez. Take some deep breaths. Do I feel bad for being the root cause of Claire's embarrassment? Absolutely. So here and now, Claire, I have given you three choices. Number one, on the likely chance you didn't read it again this week, you may choose to say you'll read it next week. You may become the snake eyes of suggestible.

Number two. Do you know what that is? Isn't that a reference to the Weekly Planet? Yes, but do you know specifically what it is? No, of course I don't. No, I don't listen to your other podcasts. I can, but do you know specifically what it is? No, of course I don't. No, I don't listen to your other podcasts. No, I know I don't. I think you guys are excellent and super funny,

but I don't understand anything you talk about. We don't need your patriotism, Claire, or your compliments. You clearly don't need my patriotism. Number two, Claire, you could just read the spark notes, cliff notes of the novel and be done with it. Tana, that was, no, I really have to commit to this, but thank you for the suggestion. Number three, you may just give up and admit defeat,

letting James win this battle. Never, Tana, never. Of course you could not do any of these and figure out a surprise. Fourth option, what about remembering to read it but not actually reading it? Anyways, thanks for the great project. Keep up the great work. Tana M.

Tana, I will climb this Mount Everest of things. Mount Everest of reading a really popular and easy to read book. Well, I haven't opened it yet so I didn't know that. Is it easy to read? Yeah. It's a fucking breeze, Claire, in a good way though. I've just been spending a lot of time listening to like vocal quality. Wow.

And that must be really exciting too. Like a real rabbit hole. Hours, James. Hours. Hours and hours and hours. And then following you around with my iPhone being like, listen to this. What do you think?

I'm like, I don't know. I don't know. I don't know what noise is. Really sad. I'm sorry I wasn't more excited about your Transformers video game. It actually sounds really cool. I don't believe that, Claire. Of course you don't believe it. It's not true. It actually sounds really cool. I don't believe that, Claire. Of course you don't believe it.

It's not true. Obviously it sounds really cool. I don't want to play it, but it sounds very excellent. Wow. Now how many hours has this been going for and can we stop? Not many. It's just like 39 minutes. God damn.

Let's go to a different place, Claire. Let's do it. What are you going to watch? Amazon? Yeah, I'm going to watch Amazon. What was it? Yeah, you're right. You got it. What are you going to watch? Amazon? Yeah, I'm going to watch Amazon. What was it? Yeah, you're right. You got it.

The Amazon. You're just going to watch the Amazon, which is probably still on fire. I don't know. There's been a lot of rain, though. Oh, no, that's just here. No, the Amazon. Something. I don't know.

Is it raining in the Amazon still? Or is it on fire? Is this what your brain is like? Like you're just like. Is it here? Is it what? Is it on fire? That is 100% it.

I've told you before. It's just like a conglomerate of terrible and barely remembered facts plus also a woman panicking, running around, possibly called Sharon and then tumbleweeds. Is your brain. I heard Carl Pilkington say this. Like his brain is, he feels like his mind is separate from his like consciousness. So he's like his mind is separate than from his like consciousness so

he's like you can almost like ask it questions and it will like talk back to him is that how your brain kind of no my brain's a spider is that me so so there's a spider that lives at the back of my brain and i can't really talk to it and it knows a lot more than i do because i can't actually say all the things that I know that the spider knows. And so when I want to do something, I kind of just let the thing at the back of my brain absorb the thing and then sometimes it just comes out with stuff. And I'm like, that's really great.

But I didn't consciously make it. Why is it a spider? I don't know. It just feels right. Couldn't it be like? Because spiders weave webs and it's got lots of webs. Webs of knowledge. Webs of knowledge.

I don't know. But it's something at the back of the end. So when I'm doing a creative thing, I like to just like give my spider. Okay, this is making me sound insane. I like to give my spider in my brain a lot of like absorbing of things, but I don't actually remember. Is it a spooky spider? No, it's a very friendly.

It's a friendly spider. I don't actually know. It's like maybe it's a creature. I don't know. Can you picture it? Yeah, it kind of sits there at the back of my head. But I can't see it and I can't control it. So what I will do is like.

How do you know it's a spider then? Well, it's just the way I like to think about it affectionately. But I don't know. I don't know exactly. It's probably just most likely anatomy. It's my brain. Your brain is Schrodinger's spider living in your brain. No, there's just something.

I can't explain it other than it's there and everything I watch and read and absorb, it absorbs. But I don't remember it. So like I can't articulate half the shit that I've studied. Like I've studied music and theory, right? I cannot remember any of it but the spider does. And so when I'm writing music or something, I can't articulate the words for all the things that I'm doing, but the spider is doing it.

You need a middleman between you and the spider. Yeah, I do. And I don't know how to do that. Maybe like a worm? I don't know. No, I actually don't. I like that. I like the way my brain works.

I like it. It's quite interesting to me because, like, it comes out with things. How long have you thought of it as a spider? A long time. Or a spider is probably not the right word, but it's the closest word I've got to what it is. Yeah. It's the closest word, but it's actually probably not a spider.

It's more like some kind of. Squid. Creature-y thing in there. But it's interesting to me because often that will come out, like I won't consciously have decided, like with lyrics or songwriting, right? Like I will just let that creature thing do what it wants to do and I will write a whole song but I won't have consciously sat there. And sometimes I will consciously be like I want to write about this

but often I'll just be sitting there playing some chords thinking and it will just sort of come out with a thing. And then I'll look at that thing that's written out and I'll be like, oh, that's connected to this song that I listened to ages ago and this content that I've thought about and this story. But I didn't at the time sit and go I'm going to write a thing, I'm going to write a story about that. It's like I inputted all this stuff and then it comes out.

You're looking at me like I need to be committed. I don't, I don't know. I don't know. It's just completely outside of my frame of reference, but I find, I find that interesting, Claire. Do you? Legitimately. It's strange, right? I'm going to store it away in the bear that lives in my brain. But that's why, the grumpy bear that's asleep. Because the thing that I find so interesting about that, right, about my brain, and I love it but it's endlessly frustrating because when I'm in situations where it would be really helpful to like regurgitate facts.

How do you coax the spider out? How do I coax it out? I just have to be very still and I have to not, that's why I can't watch a lot of horror. So if you went like on a game show, like that's not an ideal scenario. No, it would go away. That's why like if I ever have to regurgitate facts about anything that I'm supposed to have learnt, can't.

But you can write it though, I feel. Potentially, but most likely I would have to go and revise. Like I'd have to go and feed the spider with all of the stuff because I can regurgitate things very quickly. You're good at absorbing information and then. And I can read very fast. So I can read very fast. Yeah, I can.

That hasn't proven true in these last few weeks. Anyway, but I can regurgitate very quickly. That's how I studied a lot because I can do it very quickly. It doesn't mean the spider remembers it forever. But that's why writing this music I've had to like really be conscious about not absorbing much else because it's like it kind of disrupts the creature back there. Right.

And then it's murky. It murkies it. It can only do one thing at a time. No, it's not that. It's just that it's influenced by everything I input. Oh, okay. So if I watch like really sort of mind-numbing TV. Yeah.

Or horror, like things that I find really disturbing or distressing, like it short-circuits it. It's quite just like, ah. Yeah. Ah. Ah. Yeah. But it's also endlessly frustrating in some ways because it means

that sometimes on topics or just in life in general, like trivia nights, I've got donuts. Yeah. And that's really frustrating because if you feel like you're a smart person that then often, like metaphors, right? Like I know metaphors but I can never say them right. They all just come out weird in like strange, and I kind of like the way I say them but I don't know.

It's very strange. I can't explain it more than that. Okay. Well, it sounds like you're having a great time. All right. It's time to go, everybody. Have a fun time and don't forget to more than that. Okay. Well, it sounds like you're having a great time. All right. It's time to go, everybody. Have a fun time and don't forget to watch the show and or Disney Plus exclusive episode.

Great, great, great. Thanks, everybody. Bye. Bye. 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.