The Weekly Planet - The Weekly Planet Presents - Suggestible
Episode Date: August 15, 2019Hello everyone! I as in James have a second podcast called Suggestible. It's basically an extended what we reading what we gonna read. It's linked right here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/sug...gestible/id1470736893And here: https://play.acast.com/s/suggestibleAnd here: https://www.planetbroadcasting.com/our-shows/suggestible/Thank you and goodbye. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Visit heartandstroke.ca.
Happy Thursday, everyone.
This is something a bit different going up in the feed.
It's not a Weekly Planet episode, but as some of you may be aware, I've actually started a second podcast called Suggestible with my wife, Claire Tonti,
who some of you may know, where basically every Thursday we've recommended things that we've
watched, read, listened to, cooked, eaten, run over, punched in the head, just anything. You
know what I mean? It's really short and sharp, 30 minute episodes. Been going for a bit over a month
now and thought, hey, why not drop one of the episodes into this feed to see if anybody's
interested. So here is one of those episodes right now and I thought, hey, why not drop one of the episodes into this feed to see if anybody's interested.
So here is one of those episodes right now.
If you enjoyed the latest episode and others are linked below.
Hello, James.
We're back.
We're back for another episode of Suggestible, the show where we suggestible things to you.
What do you want?
Some things that we've watched or whatever?
Well, we got that for you.
We got so many things.
We've got at least four things.
We have.
I've got lots of gardens and recipe things today.
Oh, my God, Claire.
Okay, well, I'll try and avoid that so that people will actually have something to look forward to.
Gotcha.
Oh, bloody got him.
Okay, you old boot.
Will I use that again this week?
I don't know.
Apparently, you will.
There was some great fan art about that.
I enjoyed it.
Me too.
It was great.
All right, enough of this BS, you old boot.
You get to go first because I've made a rule that it's gentlemen's first.
And I appreciate that rule because it puts me right on the spot.
Good, where I got you, where I like you.
This movie I'm talking about, it's still in cinemas.
It's very aggressive.
It's still in cinemas.
It's me.
I'm bloody aggressive.
But it might be.
Claire, you said gentlemen first.
I'm bloody aggressive, mate.
I'm getting in there now
you need to bloody hurry up james i'm trying you've been so slow well you're not being very
suggestible boring everybody's ear holes off but uh so it's called long shot it's still in cinemas
but i think it's going to streaming next week so if you do want to see it you can probably just
wait a week you know probably it's only select cinemas in australia anyway it's been out for
ages for a very long time and it bombed hard cinemas in Australia anyway. Yeah, it's been out for ages.
It's been out for a very long time and it bombed hard.
Which made me so sad.
I know, because it's great.
It's one of the, it's probably the funniest movie I've seen this year, though I haven't seen many comedies.
Oh, that's a big call.
Yeah.
Because you're sad and depressing.
I'm sad and depressed, but also most comedies aren't good.
You think that.
You just say that because you see a lot of comedy.
I think you've overdone comedy.
You know how if something's delicious, like my sister, when was a kid ate too many dimsims out of a packet
and now she can't eat them?
That's because dimsims are shit also.
They're absolute dog food.
No, if you don't eat them very often, actually now, yeah, they are.
No, I've always hated them.
All right.
Always and forever.
Anyway, I think you've overdosed on comedy.
No, I think just wanting to watch a good thing,
that's not my fault, is it?
All right, bloody get back to your suggestion, mate.
Anyway, so it's Seth Rogen and Charlize Theron.
And the idea is that the Charlize Theron character,
whose name I can't remember, or the Seth Rogen character's name,
so I'm just going to call them the names of their real names.
She is running for the 2020 presidential campaign.
Woo!
And she brings Seth Rogen on board as a speechwriter.
And they knew each other from when they were kids.
They had an awkward encounter when she babysitted him.
Babysat.
Babysat, which sounds kind of weird, but yeah.
And he thought she was real cute.
That's right.
And really, she had good morals and she was all about recycling and whatever.
Save in the world.
B's, T's, and C's.
B's, T's, and C's.
And she was three years older than him.
So obviously nothing ever happened.
Nothing weird or creepy.
There was an embarrassing event.
And then they run into each other again many, many years later.
And it's a romantic comedy, I guess.
But what I also liked about it, it was nice to see like a competent leader,
like world leader, even if it's fictional, because we just got, you know,
there's the UK situation which just unfolded.
With Boris.
Our country, obviously.
Who Trump came out and said was the Trump of the UK.
What a stunning compliment.
They both have very crazy hair going on.
Yeah, I don't know whether that's what's going on there.
Anyway, it's neither here nor there.
So it's just a good, like it's a solidly funny movie.
I like the dynamic of, they talk about it in a solidly funny movie I like the dynamic of
They talk about it in the movie
But it's like the opposite of like a pretty woman situation
Yeah because he's very
Seth Rogen basically
Yeah and funny but a bit of a mess
His life's a mess
And he's like a journalist that's got
You know really like serious
Left-leaning opinions about everything
But he gets kind of fired or he quits
But they also kind of address that Like it's everything, but he gets kind of fired or he quits.
But they also kind of address that, like it's not, you know,
where he kind of realises that he should listen to other people,
you know, who have other opinions also.
Yeah, be more open-minded. So if you're worried that it's like this is just going to be some bloody
leftist propaganda, bloody German.
Bloody soy boy over there.
Yeah, I'm not the right or whatever.
I mean, yeah, it is that, which I like.
But it also does address like the other side of things.
And also, the real president in this universe,
or the current president, is someone who played a president on television
on kind of like a West Wing knockoff kind of situation
and is looking to get out and move into movies.
So he's just this guy who shouldn't be there
and everyone's kind of covering for him.
Gosh, that sounds like such a fictional universe.
I know, what a weird coincidence.
But so it's like it's tightly written and it's very funny.
And again, I like the dynamic between the two of them.
They're both really funny and they play off each other really, really well.
The chemistry is great, which is surprising because Charlize Theron is like a goddess
and Seth Rogen is Seth Rogen.
Sure.
But he's so funny in this and I think he's very charismatic.
He is, yeah.
And so you really, even though she's so together and clearly so smart
and hardworking and just like Amazon, you really believe
that she would fall for him.
Yeah.
And the dynamic's just really great.
And there's also, there's things that they address about the difference
between if you're running for president as a female candidate or a male candidate and things you can and can't say.
And like, well, if I say this, I'm going to come across as angry and shrill.
But if I kind of show any emotion, then I'm weak.
And it's like this whole, it's like this real balancing act of like, and I know this is how it works.
There's like, you know, they poll them to see like, well, you're 82% in, you know, in humor, but we think we could bump that up or whatever.
Like, well, you're 82% in, you know, in humor,
but we think we could bump that up or whatever.
And there's like a Justin Trudeau character that, you know, is interested in dating her, who's the president of Canada,
who's also turned out to be a pretty funny,
pretty funny, got a goofball character in it.
Not intentionally, but it is intentional because it's written that way.
Yeah, yeah.
But it's just a really great, fun movie,
but there's some also serious
lines running through it what i also thought was great is that you see in order to be someone like
a woman as the president or run as a candidate just the sheer amount of work that goes behind
the scene to make you look a certain way like she's doing like she wakes up in the morning or
she's you know she's rehearsing a speech and she's doing like arm curls or whatever to yeah exactly
putting ice spoons on her underneath her eyes so she doesn't look puffy yeah you know, she was rehearsing a speech and she's doing like arm curls or whatever to stay in shape. Yeah, exactly, putting ice spoons on her underneath her eyes
so she doesn't look puffy.
Yeah.
You know, just and like the hair and makeup
and all the stuff that she has to do in order to, you know, be presentable.
It's, yeah, it's just a great fun time.
I'm really glad that you liked it.
I saw the movies by myself.
I wanted to see it much earlier and I didn't,
but I'm glad I ended up catching it.
So look, like I said, it's out. I think it's streaming next week i look yeah long shot long
shot yeah long shot get it up yeah get it up yeah shoot it in your eyeballs okay what what
what boring garden oh gosh i've got so many fun things okay my first one is a book it's called
growing food the italian way by Fabian Capamola.
I gave you that book.
You did for Valentine's Day last year because you know me.
Well, because you said I want this book.
I don't know when I'm going to remember.
Was that this year though?
It was last.
No, it was this year.
Mate, this year's feeling long.
It was February this year.
It was February this year, yeah.
Mate, that feels like a long time ago.
We're only in July.
Here's a trick for those listening who want to buy things for their partners have got no idea every now and then they'll say something
just in passing and you write it down in your phone you're like oh and then when it comes around
they're like oh my god i can't believe you remember but here's the thing you didn't remember
you just you just knew at the time to write it down and then hope they didn't buy it between
there because that's also happened to me when you're like i want this thing and then i get it
and then then you get it i'm like ah she that's also happened to me when you're like, I want this thing and then I get it and then you get it.
I'm like, ah, she's ruined everything.
All that time that I bought tickets for a musical for my mum for Christmas,
but I'd also said that I want to go and then you bought tickets
and it was the whole thing.
That was this Christmas.
Was that organised though?
Did we organise?
We all went together.
Yeah, that's right.
But like you...
Didn't I...
Oh, that's right because I ended up coordinating with...
I can't remember. Yeah, this is a blog where... What musical was it? I can't remember. Oh, but we you... Didn't I... Oh, that's right, because I ended up coordinating with... I can't remember.
That was a nightmare.
Yeah, this is a blog where...
What musical was it?
I can't remember.
Oh, but we hated as well.
Oh, Evita.
Don't cry for me, Argentina.
Evita was terrible.
Sitting next to you in Evita, the musical, was so hilarious
because you hated every single second.
And you're a musical man.
I love musicals.
You're a musical man.
Evita went for 100,000 years.
And there's that one song, but everything else was...ics were oh my god it blew me away how like the
opposite of like in a good way it's like wow this is bad why do people like this this is quite crap
yeah it was and i love all musical theater and just couldn't i was so we love the movie cats
for example i really for anyone that didn't see, we had a live show on Sunday.
James Warkat is when he came out and it was a bloody goddamn brilliant time.
It was a bloody hoot.
And I'm glad I put him on like a minute before I came out because otherwise I wouldn't have
done it.
Anyway, sorry, you're reading a book about gardening.
Exactly.
Oh, and if you want to donate to our charity campaign for that and listen to that whole
recording of the live show, you can.
I'll put the link in the show notes for suggestible.
Anyway, back to growing food the Italian way.
It's a book about exactly what it sounds like.
It's just really the A to Z of how to grow veggies and fruit in your garden.
But it goes into really simple language and it just explains things like what is sunlight
and why you need it and what is soil and what's the best composition
and how to make a no-dig veggie patch, which is what I'm doing.
What is sunlight?
Well, as in, not like, we all know what sunlight is, but as in what type of sun and why you
need sun.
And how long for each plant.
Correct.
Exactly.
Because sun's really, really important.
That's a thing that people often get wrong.
The sun's overrated, mate.
No, but it's just really important. Sun's had it too good for too long. Oh, God. Here he goes. The sun's overrated, mate. No, but it's just really important.
The sun's had it too good for too long.
Oh, God.
Here he goes.
The sun's cancelled.
I can feel a rant coming out about the sun.
It's only because you're a paler's pale.
That's true.
And you get sunburn easily.
The sun is my enemy.
You are.
You're a little Irish potato farmer who's not used to seeing any sun.
I'm really not.
So it talks about the best position for your veggie patch to make the most of the sun.
Because if you don't have sun, you can't grow good veggies.
Yeah.
And look, I'm not interested in this stuff at all.
But I do think it's so important to like eat locally grown stuff and pesticide free.
And because it's really, it's like it's messing up waterways and people's health and digestion.
Can I get this in writing?
Because every time I try to talk to you about it, you're like.
No, but it's more effort. And also when you go to you about it, you're like, ah! No, but it's more effort.
And also, when you go to buy that stuff, you're like, this apple looks like absolute crap.
It's like organic.
Yeah, because the stuff that they sell, like, you know.
It looks so perfect and shiny and beautiful.
Yeah, but the actual organic ones taste better.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Anyway, sorry.
They just have, like, wormholes in them.
Oh, whatever.
You cut them out.
Yeah.
You're a real man.
I'll eat a worm, I don't care.
I'll eat a worm on this podcast.
Protein.
Yeah, man.
You're all about the protein, mate.
That could be our first ad.
You're F45 in it.
Yeah, I am.
I endorse worms and eating them.
You do, correct, exactly.
All right, anyway, back to my thing.
Sorry.
So it's just really great.
It's done by Fabian Capimola who is an entrepreneur
and started a company called The Little Veggie Patch Co.
And he created a nursery and he did a pop-up patch in Fed Square in Melbourne.
He does a podcast now and he started a new site called The Hungry Gardener,
which is just really cool.
He talks to people about how to grow stuff and have chickens in your back garden,
which is something else we're doing.
I'm so excited.
So if you're a gardening nerd like me, or you've just always thought about having a
veggie patch in your garden and wanting to grow more stuff yourself because it's one
of the best things you can do for the planet.
And you don't need that much space, do you?
No, you really don't.
You really don't.
I'm boring James now.
Even though you've bought six veggie patches now, but we had a smaller one that you were.
Correct.
And we're layering up a no-jig veggie patch and it's so much fun.
I'm making James shovel shit.
That's right. It's good for you, mate
Go back to your Irish potato farming roots
That's true
Except for the sun thing
Which I don't know
Alright
Anyway
Can you stand over me with a big umbrella?
Yeah, I better
Also, the sun is very ageing, Claire
Everybody knows that
The sun is just constantly attacking us
It's too late, mate
Your hair's already grey
The secret's out
Everybody knows.
The sun got my hair.
It did.
Oh, Lordy.
Lucky you got your rejuvenating shampoo.
Thank goodness.
And I've just told everybody.
Anyway, yeah, highly recommend that.
And also his website is really cool too.
Head on over there.
Done.
This is something that I recommend with a caveat.
A caveat?
A caveat, no.
Is caviar fish eggs?
Yes.
All right. So you recommend it with fish eggs? fish eggs sure okay i recommend this show with fish eggs you look so tired today and angry
because i just comic-con man it just it's a huge weekend we had the live show in comic-con that was
not my fault by the way i know it was my fault and i coordinated 11 videos to put it and look
to be fair i didn't edit them like i recorded them and then ordered the send them over and then i'd
i've been progressively releasing them over like three
days and all the metadata and stuff and all that stuff that's not interesting it's just little
things that i'm so glad that those guys did anyway it's not you told me today that your
youtube channel is like a garden it is like a garden you have to keep tending it a garden that
also insults you constantly tells you that you're Tells you that you're bad at things and your accent sucks.
Imagine that.
You went out to your garden.
It's like, you suck.
Where are you from?
Speak English.
F you.
You like those other roses better than me.
Yeah.
It's pretty good.
But it's Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee.
This is an old show.
It's streaming on Netflix.
I don't know if it started on Netflix.
This is your next suggestible.
Yes.
Ah, you moved right along. People probably know this and i'm in two minds
about it because sometimes it can be great so comedian eddie murphy no jerry seinfeld i am
going to talk about eddie murphy jerry seinfeld takes a car whether it be a classic car or a new
car and he goes and picks up a comedian and they drive in the car and they chat about comedy and
life and they get a coffee and then they go home it's very low effort for jerry seinfeld i mean why wouldn't it be he's he's got enough money so it just seems
like it's a fun thing that like a personal project he can do like a podcast or a garden that screams
at you but so a lot of the times and i'll just quickly talk about the negative stuff there's
things like it's a lot of like someone gets in the car and i'll be like yeah you can't bloody say
anything anymore this culture and these millennials and you be like, yeah, you can't bloody say anything anymore.
This culture and these millennials and, you know,
like we grew up in a time when you could say and do anything
and whatever and good on you.
It's like, great, okay.
But things are different now, you know what I mean?
And I know that cancel culture thing can obviously go too far,
but it just a lot of time it just sounds like back in my day kind of shit,
you know what I mean?
Correct, exactly.
Back in my day you could pinch a woman on the bum at work
and she'd like it.
It's not like that explicitly or anything like that.
No, but it's about jokes and what you can and can't say.
But the thing is, though, and I've said this before,
I think you can genuinely joke about anything.
But a lot of the time, when they're like, you can't say anything,
it's like, but it's boring.
Like, the things that you're saying are boring and not controversial.
It's just dull.
You know what I mean?
Correct, yeah. It's like this. You know what I mean? Correct.
Yeah. It's like this is an old kind of hack kind of bit.
Yeah, Ricky G. Bass loves to talk about this a lot.
He's your favorite man.
No, that's the thing because I'm not going to get into Ricky G. Bass,
but he's like, I'm an atheist.
What do you think?
Everyone's a fucking atheist.
No one cares.
It's not a big deal.
It's really not.
Yeah.
I know.
Look, I really liked Afterlife his show on Netflix
I know you didn't
no I'm hot and cold on it
like but I think
you're good mate
Joseph loved it too
he did love it
yeah
but don't get me wrong
Ricky Gervais has done
some really good stuff
we'll talk about
For the Office
and whatever
but there's that thing
of like
did I offend you
kind of thing
it's like no
it's just
just dull
like it's just dull
and yeah
but anyway
and there is a Ricky Gervais episode,
and it is interesting.
You know what I mean?
But there is, like, he did one this new season.
There's a Seth Rogen one, which is great.
There's an Eddie Murphy one, which is really interesting
because Eddie Murphy kind of disappeared from the comedy scene
and hasn't done stand-up in, like, 20 or 30 years.
And he talks about why.
Oh, is that?
Because I thought it was because he went and had kids
and did those terrible kids movies.
Well, he did. He did do that. But he talks about the reason why, is that because I thought it was because he went and had kids and did those terrible kids movies. Well, he did.
He did do that.
But he talks about the reason why was because one of the last times
he was on stage like decades ago was he was just like I could say anything
and it would get a laugh, like it wouldn't matter.
There was one time I stood there in silence for 10 minutes
and people just laughed because he just wanted to see whether he could.
He's like there's no challenge in it.
So now he's thinking about coming back to it,
but he's got two particularly iconic stand-up sets from the 80s,
Roar and the other one.
I can't remember.
Is Roar the one where he wears the purple bodysuit?
There's a purple suit and there's a red suit and whatever.
And look, some of that stuff is very dated, but it's classic comedy.
And homophobic.
Oh, yeah.
Isn't it terribly homophobic?
It's classic comedy.
And homophobic. Oh, yeah.
Isn't it terribly homophobic?
As women, our life stages come with unique risk factors,
like when our estrogen levels drop during menopause,
causing the risk of heart disease to go up.
Know your risks.
Visit heartandstroke.ca.
That's what I was referring to. But it's but he's he's talking about coming
back but he's he's kind of like well i don't even know how to how would i even do that because
people film everything now so you can't even because he's eddie murphy he can't even kind of
practice a set and kind of get a good set of jokes and yeah and because also he what do you even know
what's funny or not wanting anymore if you're Eddie Murphy?
Because you get on stage and people are like, well, this is Eddie Murphy.
This is great.
Going to be hilarious.
But then again, maybe it's because it's not the 80s anymore, then it would be, you'd get more honest feedback because people in the audience don't necessarily know who you are.
If they're a younger generation at least.
Oh, they know him as the donkey from Shrek.
Yeah, but even then, like.
People would still know Eddie Murphy. Yeah, but they don't know his stand up is what I'm saying. And they don't know Shrek. Yeah, but even then, like. People would still know Eddie Murphy.
Yeah, but they don't know his stand-up is what I'm saying,
and they don't know the history.
Yeah, that's true.
But, like, Coming to America.
Coming to America.
They're making a new one.
Yeah, I mean, that's, I think the thing with Eddie Murphy is,
even though he might not have done stand-up for so long,
the body of his work is still being watched and watched by each generation.
And the thing about Eddie Murphy was that I realized watching this,
he's still very funny and very sharp.
Like he's still quick on his feet, you know.
He lives in like he's obnoxiously rich but he kind of seems to like
he likes being alone in his quiet time and whatever but he loves his family
and he talks about that kind of stuff, how he got really upset
when like one of his kids moved out.
He goes and cries in his room or whatever. And it was just interesting because you don't really see eddie
murphy anymore and i know there was a period in the 90s when he was kind of depressed and he was
doing beverly hills cop and and like he's like i used to be like the biggest star in the world and
he was in the 80s he was huge yeah all these movies did phenomenally well but then by the
i remember i saw an i think it was Bronson Pinchot.
Is that his name?
He's a guy from Family Cousins.
You're real struggling.
They're perfect strangers.
Ah, yeah.
Balky.
He's Balky.
Because he worked on Beverly Hills Cop 3 and I remember having a conversation with him.
I remember reading this interview and Eddie Murphy was kind of like,
yeah, nobody kind of cares who I am anymore.
And he was kind of in this kind of slump.
Yeah. And that was the period where this kind of slump. Yeah.
And that was a period where he did like Doctor Dolittle and a bunch of kids' movies and things like that.
But I just thought it was really fascinating that this guy, because he started so young,
like he started in the 70s with like Cosby and Pryor and all these other comedians.
And actually Jerry Seinfeld at the same time.
And he's never had anything weird, controversial.
As far as I know.
He's like homophobic statements and stuff in the 80s, which people got away with it.
None of that is acceptable. No know but it was a different time and i
people didn't understand aids at all because he talks about in it he was worried like if you kiss
somebody that you get aids from them but that was also an era when there was a lot of misinformation
people didn't know do you know what i mean yeah and it wasn't being dealt with the properly and
you know by the government and all these other things. I'm not excusing it.
I'm just saying it was a – you kind of need to look at it in that context,
I guess.
Yeah.
That's actually something really interesting that Ricky Gervais does talk about,
that because everything is filmed now, right,
something that you say now that's filmed or back in the 80s
because it's filmed, in 30, 40 years, you can look
back on it and sort of see that that person is saying something really controversial or
not okay.
And even though that person, like the Eddie Murphy of the 80s, would never say the things
that he said in Raw, for example, maybe.
Or at least in public.
Or at least in public.
Because, you know, there's things that you would say to friends that you would never
say.
Correct.
Yeah, exactly.
But we are now watching things assuming that, you know,
maybe we can't grow as people or that, you know.
I don't know.
It's just an interesting age.
It is.
And there needs to be like a level of like context and forgiveness
and kind of where is that person now and do you know what I mean?
And like there definitely needs to be that.
But then there's some people like Bill Cosby who's just a fucking flat-out monster and a criminal
and he even talks about Bill Cosby and how Bill Cosby used to kind of belittle him because
he saw it as like a rival comedian like other upcoming comedians who were white he didn't care
as much but Eddie Murphy used to always be on his back and he'd call him and like chastise him for
swearing and things like that and you're making the community look bad and you're embarrassing
yourself or whatever.
Meanwhile, he's raping like literally hundreds of women.
So it's this whole, it's just this fascinating.
And he talks about like Richard Pryor, who was kind of like, like Richard Pryor had his own demons and problems, like spousal abuse and cocaine and things like that.
But he was kind of the opposite of Cosby to him.
Yeah.
Wow.
Sounds like, so this is comedians with cars?
Comedians in cars getting coffee just
what's the eddie murphy one yeah okay jerry seinfeld yeah because i've tried to watch some
episodes and yeah i've never i'm very hot and cold on it you know what i have watched re-watched
those seinfeld yeah i've just been re-watching seinfeld from the beginning and i bloody love
that show and i know that's not a suggestible, like everyone loves Seinfeld, or not everyone, but most people. But it's just, it's so fun.
It's just a fun, ridiculous time.
And Elaine is brilliant and I love her so much and it's awesome.
But yeah, okay, I would definitely have a look at that.
That sounds really super fascinating.
Love Eddie Murphy.
Used to watch Raw all the time.
Brilliant.
I hated most of his 90s movies.
I hate Dr. Doolittle and that one, The Nanny Professor. Shrieks good, but that's not 90s. That's 2000s, isn't it? Yeah, I think it's 2000ss movies. I hate Doctor Dolittle and that one, The Nutty Professor.
Shrieks good, but that's not 90s.
That's 2000s, isn't it?
Yeah, I think it's 2000s.
Yeah, I think.
Well, anyway, cool.
Okay.
Daddy, Daddy, Daddy.
Moving right along.
Oh, Lord.
Awful.
Okay.
My suggestion of all, so it's my turn again.
I'm ready.
This one I think you might be surprised about.
I don't know.
It's a podcast, obviously, This American Life, which you obviously know.
It's very famous. I've never really heard american life which you obviously know it's very famous
i've never really heard it but i obviously know correct exactly well it began in 1995 in november
on november 17th public access yeah so it's um chicago public media and it's a public radio show
so it's broadcast across america and it's one of the very first really famous podcasts. A lot of people see it as quite an iconic show.
It's hosted by Ira Glass.
It's brilliant journalistic nonfiction.
Did he say just make the thing?
Was that him?
He did.
That was him.
I've got this amazing quote from him where he just said it took him the longest time
to figure out that to get good at something, you just have to do it for a long, long, long,
long time.
And be bad.
Yeah, and be bad.
And just keep doing it.
It's so difficult now though because everything stays up online forever.
Like there's things that I've made in the past that were available.
I feel like no one would ever take me seriously.
Like those videos you did when we were in Africa.
Yeah, things like that, yeah.
I was like filming you while you were standing in a field of wheat
or something.
Because I was going mad overseas.
Yeah, correct, exactly.
Because I didn't play any video games.
Oh, God, it was so fun.
It was quite funny
those videos
anyway they won't
see the light of day
or like
my starring role
in Cats the musical
when I was 8
or something
did you have it
in a shirt man
no definitely not
in an orange bodysuit
that he's never seen
in the light of day
and it's on a VTR
so it's okay
so obviously
This American Life
has over 600 episodes
so I mean
if you're a podcast listener
well Mason and I
are coming up on 300.
So, let's not.
We didn't start in 1995.
Well, there you go.
Okay.
Well, these guys have a really high standard, though, of podcasts.
Oh, okay.
I don't know.
Oh, I see how it is.
Over 80% of their interviews never make it to air, James.
Really?
Yeah, yeah.
So, that's how exacting they are.
Are they weekly?
Surely not. Yeah, they are. Really? Yeah. But they have a really big team around them. Yeah, yeah. So that's how exacting they are. Are they weekly? Surely not.
Yeah, they are.
Really?
Yeah.
But they have a really big team around them.
Yeah, right.
Obviously, you'd need to.
But they work so hard.
Like, it's won so many awards because of the journalism and just the excellence.
So they've got a standard format for the show.
It's obviously usually around a theme, from gloomy to ironic, thought-provoking and humorous.
And it starts usually with a prologue and then it goes in acts.
So it has act one, act two, act three.
Sometimes one episode can just be one whole act.
It just depends.
And the journalists are brilliant.
But I wanted to recommend you specifically one episode
and really just the prologue of an episode because I know you're a time
poor over there, Mr. Sunday Movies.
You've got no time and you're aging fast. So I don't waste i don't waste your son is just banging at my door just coming coming to get
me i just said ear balls i meant ear holes no you mean ear balls okay i said it was anyway the
episode i'm recommending is a recent one it's called save the girl and it's really about a
whole lot of different ways that kind of the society loves an innocent girl being saved yes
you know they just love that yeah they love that idea of an innocent girl being saved in all
different ways it's an a story as old as time yeah definitely and i mean and you look at things like
uh horror movies the trope was like the the girl who was a virgin or whatever and she's nice she's
the one who escapes at the end you know what i mean and the couples that are having sex get murdered
yeah yeah correct exactly because she's usually young and beautiful the one who escapes at the end, you know what I mean? Correct. And the couples that are having sex get murdered. Yeah, yeah, correct.
Exactly, because she's usually young and beautiful and innocent,
like a Cinderella type, Snow White type, Sleeping Beauty type girl,
and she gets saved.
Anyway, this episode begins in the prologue with a look
at Final Fantasy VII from 1997.
I've never played it.
Do you know what I'm talking about?
I'm well aware of Final Fantasy.
All right, okay.
And the girl specifically in that who gets murdered and everyone cried about it.
Yeah.
It's still a thing.
People are still playing it.
Yeah.
Is it Aerith?
Aerith?
Aerith.
Aerith.
Aerith.
I don't know.
Aerith Gainsborough, who was a flower seller in this game.
But they just kind of look at how all of these boys and men, really, who were playing this
game were super invested and all cried.
Like so many of them cried.
And why did they cry?
It's fascinating.
Well, it was a story that wasn't, but they talk about it.
I can explain a little bit.
Yeah, you can talk about it, yeah.
Yeah, it was because it was a new kind of era of video games
of 3D and storytelling because it was the whole lot
of 16-bit side-scrolling like Mario games,
and then a couple of years after you get something like this,
which is this big sweeping fantasy tale.
And it's kind of naff by today's standards but but yeah it was kind of the
benchmark of yeah video games at the time it was japanese right and then remake they still make
they still make them yeah yeah well there's i think there's one coming out there's one coming
out they're remaking it yeah yeah yeah so it was created by yoshi nori kitas kitasi and hironobu
sakaguchi which i probably murdered those names.
But anyway.
That was perfect.
That was Oragato.
Oragato.
Okay.
Oh, God.
Designed by Tetsuya Nomura.
Yeah, because we did an ad for the – yeah, he did the music, didn't he?
I know.
He did all the artwork.
Okay.
Then ignore that.
Cut that out, Collings.
Yeah.
I don't.
Yeah, cut that out.
No, definitely not.
But anyway.
Oh, we did do an ad, though, for a video game.
We did, because the music is also really iconic as well.
Yeah, that's right.
I know, because I listened to it, because they play the bit where she dies.
Because basically, this beautiful, innocent girl who's very sweet,
who's got piercing green eyes and beautiful, long, flowing hair,
just gets stabbed through the chest with a sword and dies.
Sephiroth, maybe.
I can't remember.
Yeah, Who knows?
And Cloud, is it Cloud Strife?
Is the main character who, like, is shocked and is supposed to protect her?
Well, I had Cloud Strife written down, but who knows?
And apparently on the screen the words come up,
she will no longer laugh, cry, or get angry.
And she's voiced by Mandy Moore.
Really?
I didn't know that.
I know.
Who also voices the Princess Entangled.
Yes, she does.
She's awesome in that.
I love her.
Great job, Mandy Moore.
Anyway, just that's a really interesting episode.
So it's only 10 minutes, that prologue, but it's just a really kind of-
It is.
It's Cloud Strife.
Wow.
Yeah, yeah.
They interview like a gamer who was maybe 13 when it came out.
Which would have been like my age as well. Yeah, exactly exactly now he's in his 30s and he was super invested so it's interesting
because the girl the journalist originally got into this because her brother apparently cried
when the girl dies yeah but he refuses to admit that he cried and so she like goes to interview
someone else because he won't admit on recording on tape that he actually cried but she remembers
him crying.
The thing is, though, I never liked those games.
Oh, what?
Whoa, we're going to get so much hate mail now.
I don't care.
I don't like them.
I don't like RPGs.
There's too much time and investment in them.
And you go, like, get the crystal and put the spell in,
it's turn-based and whatever.
I know there's amazing craft into it, but it's never been my thing.
Is that like Zelda?
Is that the kind of game? It's way more complicated than Zelda, but yes.
Because I liked Zelda.
I liked the Ocarina of Time.
Yeah, it's a good game that I never played, but yeah.
Oh, I loved it so much.
Anyway, so that's-
But you didn't like Majora's Mask.
Not so much.
Because you couldn't beat it or something in the timeline.
No, it's so freaking annoying.
You have to keep repeating.
I hate doing things all over again.
I hate that.
Anyway, another episode I'd recommend of This American Life is my favorite one,
The Invisible Made Visible.
It's really interesting.
It starts with a guy who's blind. life is it's my favorite one the invisible made visible it's really interesting and it just it
starts with a guy who's blind he's looking for a phone in a hotel room to call his wife and he
can't find it he goes to sleep wakes up in the morning and then miraculously where he was looking
on the table there's a phone even though he said he felt over the entire coffee table and there was
no phone yeah but did he who knows anyway it unfolds from there and then there's another
story about a man who's blind.
Like a fictional story?
No, they're all real.
All of these stories are true.
They're sort of true fiction, true stories.
And then the second, the first act of it is about a man who's blind.
And there's a bear involved.
And he's trying to teach his daughter about what it's like to be blind.
Right, okay.
And there's a bear in it.
It's just a really great story.
I won't spoil any more of that.
Do they do that kind of foley thing where they kind of put the sounds
around you kind of?
They can, yeah.
They do a little bit, not hugely, but they do have,
they're very good in this American life at layering the sound.
They record in different places.
They interview in different places, you know,
outside in the woods or in homes or they often do phone calls.
So it's a very atmospheric podcast.
I don't always love it.
Sometimes I'm not in the mood for it,
but those two episodes really grabbed me.
So I highly recommend them.
And they will be linked below by Collings.
Thanks, Collings.
You wonder, kid, person, man, human.
All right, we've come to the end.
We're at 29 minutes, James.
Oh, my God.
Do you have anything to say?
Any other things over there?
I have nothing to say and I won't be back.
Any reviews to read?
Actually, I do have a review.
Oh, God.
Hurry up there, man.
Okay.
This is from Shrek and Donkey, actually.
You can just review this on your app.
It says, beautiful podcast.
James will always have better chemistry with Mason.
Sorry. But in reality, I love the podcast. Yeah, that's fair enough. James will always have better chemistry with Mason. Sorry.
But in reality, I love the podcast.
Yeah, that's fair enough.
Well, I have known Mason for longer than you.
You have got some.
You have known Mason longer than me.
Oh, you've got delicious chef's kiss chemistry.
Chef's kiss, you say?
Yes, correct.
Exactly.
Interesting.
You chose not to marry Mason.
You chose to marry me instead, though.
Well, we weren't allowed to at the time, were we?
Yeah, this was a different time.
It's a different time.
Back in the 80s.
I didn't meet him in the 80s.
Oh, and also, any recommendations from anyone?
Oh, I don't have anything.
I forgot to look.
Sorry, it was just me at a really busy time.
Yeah, hang on.
While you're looking for that,
Simon Morgan sent in some fan art of You Old Boot.
Oh, yeah, that's so awesome.
Thank you, Simon Morgan.
All right, I also have a recommendation.
What do you got?
From Gregory at GGritmon.
Thanks, Gregory.
I recommend the book An Absolutely Remarkable Thing by Hank Green
about the world's reaction to a strange phenomenon
and one woman's struggle with overnight fame.
The story grips and doesn't let go.
Oh, I want to read that.
That sounds good. Grips and doesn't let go because Ooh, I want to read that. That sounds good.
Grips and doesn't let go.
Because at one point you'd want it to let go, wouldn't you?
No, James, never.
I always want my books to grab on and never let go like a leech.
That sounds bad.
Well, eventually leeches let go, I guess.
I don't know.
Yeah, they fill up on the top.
Like a barnacle on the side of a boat.
You've got to chip them off, though, don't you?
All right.
Shout out to Daniel Hamm as well, who wrote in on Twitter and said,
thanks for recommending I Am Mother.
So good.
And also thank you to Claire Yu for recommending David Tennant's podcast,
reminding him of that.
Oh, that was a good one.
And then there's a gif of Austin Powers doing a salute.
Oh, I salute you back, sir.
Thank you very much.
And you too, Mike Myers, Austin Powers.
Correct.
Exactly.
All right.
This has been Suggestible Pod.
You can find us on the Twitter at Suggestible Pod. This has been Suggestible Pod. You can find us on the Twitter
at Suggestible Pod
on Instagram
at Suggestible Pod.
You can find more
planet podcasters
like this on
at planetbroadcasting.com.
You can find me
on Instagram
at Claire20
and this man over there
who's looking very sad
and tired today
because of Comic-Con weekend
at MrSundayMovies
on all the platforms
and on the YouTubes
as well.
And we would love to hear your suggestibles.
So please tweet us, write us, do all the things and review us if you like us.
Yeah, that really helps.
Helps a lot.
All right.
Thank you, everybody.
And thank you, Claire.
You old boot.
Thank you.
I'll see you next week, Claire.
Old sunny Jim.
We don't talk during the week.
We just do this.
We don't.
This is the half an hour of time that we spend together and that is it. All right. Signing Claire. Oh, Sonny Jim. We don't talk during the week. We just do this half an hour. We don't. This is the half an hour of time that we spend together, and that is it.
All right.
Signing off.
Thanks, guys.
Bye.
Hello, it's me again from that podcast you listened to just then, and also another podcast
that you may listen to also.
Like I said up top, there are more episodes in the description.
If you want to head over to iTunes or wherever to subscribe and review, that would be absolutely
fantastic.
I would be forever in your debt.
Let's not say forever.
Let's say six months in your debt.
Okay, enjoy the rest of your week.
As women, our life stages come with unique risk factors,
like high blood pressure developed during pregnancy,
which can put us two times more at risk
of heart disease or stroke.
Know your risks.