Everything Is Content - 2024 Pop Culture Quiz & Our Best Books, Film & TV From The Year

Episode Date: December 20, 2024

PSA: This is EIC's last episode of 2024. We'll be back 8th January with our extra episode, and 10th with our main. Please take this time to go back through our back catalogue to reminisce over the good times should you wish! This week, Beth, Ruchira and Oenone run through the best books, TV and film from their year, so you're well-equipped for a week off work. You'll hear recommendations they've saved especially for now, with minimal repeats – their Christmas gift to you.Also, how well will you score on our EIC pop culture quiz? Did you revise all the viral moments from this year? We put you (and each other) to the test! And stick around to hear our best pop culture predictions for next year including celeb breakups, new Skims campaigns and many, many more prophecies. It's been an incredible year and we're so excited to waltz into 2025 with you. Thank you for your support along the way, and it would mean the world to us if you could follow us on IG/TikTok @everythingiscontentpod and give us a review on Apple or Spotify. Thank you so much <3 ------------------ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

I'm Beth I'm Richira and I'm Anoni and this is Everything Is Content the podcast that dives into the week's biggest and best pop culture stories whether it's TV, film, famous people, internet trends we are across it all we're a delicious glass of babies on a cold wintry night

this week on the podcast we're doing a very special end of year roundup for you as we're taking a two-week of year roundup for you as we're taking a two-week break to rest recoup and binge more tv and film to report back on in 2025 follow us on instagram and tiktok at everything is content pod and make sure you hit follow on your podcast player so you never miss an episode and please please please can you make sure you listen to our extra episode which comes comes out every Wednesday called Everything in Conversation. But first, we've got our bumper recommendation list for you. Much like A Letter to Santa, we've been carefully crafting what pop culture gifts

to bestow to you before Christmas break. So shall we dive in to our biggest and best pop culture highlights from 2024? Beth, what is your first one that you want to offer up to us? So I'm going to start with a book and I've put together a little list of books. I mean, it's probably not a little list. It's quite a big list. And I've tried to choose books I haven't mentioned before on the podcast. So it's a little something new. If I have mentioned before, it's a season of forgiveness. So forgive me. I'm going to start with probably, I'm going to regret this, probably my favourite book of the year, which is Hello Beautiful by Anne Napolitano, which I think we've mentioned.

I think maybe one of both of you have read it, but I don't think we've gotten into it on the podcast. I am dying to talk about this. I think it's the most beautiful book I've read this year. I adored it. Anoni, you are nodding furiously. I have this on my list very high up. I listened to it as an audio book right at the beginning of the year when I was first getting into running. And I loved it so much that I basically, I only let myself listen to it when I went on a run. So that encouraged me to go out on a run because I was so desperate to listen to a bit more of this book. It really stayed with me. It's one of those ones I think I'll revisit. Do you want to give a plotted synopsis for Ruchira because she's looking a bit nonplussed? I'm going to sell the book to

you Ruchira, you're going to order a copy. So it's a book, it's I guess a patchwork of characters all connected that you spend essentially a lifetime with. So there's William who is a really lonely boy. His parents are quite distant after the death of his sister. And he finds himself and kind of self-actualization and self-esteem and a community playing basketball. And he goes to university on a basketball scholarship. And this is in America. I think the university is in Chicago. And there he meets the Padovano sisters. First, Julia, who he falls in love with. And sylvie cecilia emeline or emeline i think there's four sisters and then they're two parents and all of the sisters are so different they're so bonded they're such a close-knit family and they all have these desires and these talents and these flaws that kind of hold them together they're so close-knit and then life happens the years pass and things happen that drive some of them apart to take kind of different courses in life. And it's such an optimistic, but also really realistic novel of what happens over the course of a life,

like heartbreak, grief, in and out of love. It is the most, I have cried a book in a very long time and similar to you Anoni, although actually the opposite maybe, because I gave myself no restrictions on this book because i did just want to keep reading it i stayed up late reading this i was making bargains with myself like okay i'll just read till the end of this chapter and then the chapter would end too quickly so i'd be like okay just another 10 pages i i honestly cannot tell you how much i was moved by this i thought it'd be quite twee i put it off because it had all of these it was on loads of lists and loads of people would recommend it I was like oh well it's probably going to be a bit like for everyone it's I like a bit of a an underdog but it is such I can see now why it's been so highly recommended it's beautiful did either of you read the most fun we ever had by Claire Lombardo

nope yes oh wait let me google it it's got like it's a blue cover and it's got like a house on the front but that was also incredible. And that was long listed for the Women's Prize. And that was also about four adult daughters. And it's like a multi-generational novel and expands like loads of decades in time. You may spend a lifetime with them as well. And that was another one of these books that I adored that had like similar threads to it. You must have read that, Bea. I have read it. Yeah, it's quite a long book, isn't it? And it's kind of a similar sister dynamics and secrets coming out in adulthood and people just having to live in the wreckage.

Because actually, in real life, the wreckage is life. And I just found it very realistic and very heartwarming. You have to forgive people a lot. And both of these novels have that through them of like, you have done something which I cannot understand, but you are my sister, you are my family member, we have to find a way home to one another I don't know what the genre of these novels are it's kind of like a domestic odyssey almost oh I love that that sounds so good do you read a lot like that Richira not really I feel like I can think of films that I've watched like what was it called his three daughters that I mentioned maybe two months ago on the podcast on Netflix is about three sisters navigating their dying dad in the final few hours of his life. So that kind of feels like it. I definitely

love that as a theme of culture. So yeah, I definitely will read that book because I think I obviously enjoy those themes. I don't know why I've not really found literature to, I guess, support that too, but I will do now do now thanks what would be one of your standouts from this year Ritura so I I was gonna say Penguin for a TV rec I didn't really mention it I think just because I had other stuff to bring up first throughout the year but I've really enjoyed watching that it is essentially a look at one of DC's villains the kind of Joker-esque style villain of Penguin who operates in the Batman universe and he's a bit of a gangster it's like very Sopranos-esque and very like New York gritty mafia culture I guess and the costuming in it is really good the way it looks

is really cool I hate the whole IP thing that they're just dragging out the series of various villains and antiheroes and just making something that is a moneymaker just go on and on and on. But I have to admit, it's just a good series. Have you guys watched it? No, I don't even know if I've heard of it. Really? It's Colin Farrell in an yes incredible I mean it looks incredible like visual special effects like he's in a I guess a fat suit and he's got prosthetics and I didn't

watch it because I think I thought oh it's a you know it's a Batman spin-off do I want to step foot in this world but the more I hear about it the more I don't need to be although actually I did love Batman I don't know which kind of Batman this is but I like the story of Batman I've gotten along with it I think I just need to drop the snobbery and give it a go. Did either of you watch Robert Pattinson's Batman? No, me neither. I did and I didn't like it. Oh really? Why? It just, it was really long and it could have done with a tie to edit. I fell asleep in the cinema and I never fall asleep in the cinema so I think it was really long and I think there was something just missing from it I don't know what but it kind of felt a

bit soulless and somebody might listen to me saying that and just think well aren't they all pretty soulless but no I think the trilogy that came before it so the Dark Knight trilogy it just was like such a good interpretation of what Batman is and I think what's his name who's the guy who plays it Patrick Bateman guy yes um Christian Slater no Christian Bale Christian Bale brings so much to that character that he's like actually quite a nuanced interesting compelling kind of like frustrating type of person to see on screen. Whereas I think the Robert Pattinson one, it didn't really feel that like emotionally deep. It just felt like aesthetically a new interpretation

without any kind of like interesting take on the character. Is this the one with Paul Dano as the villain? Because that is what, if I can watch the Batman with Robbie P, it would be because Paul Dano was the villain and I'm fascinated by him I think he's just an excellent actor and I wanted to see that but I just didn't find that big enough draw I thought you were going to say that you fancied him then because I feel like every episode

needs a random person that you claim to crush on exactly I'll watch the film and I'll tell you yeah also Anoni I've just dropped in our whatsapp group a picture of Colin Farrell as Penguin so we can do a live reaction another hardank, but I think we could do it. Oh, God, Beth. I can't believe I haven't seen that before. He looks absolutely hideous, Beth. You've got to stop. Put it away.

On the topic of Christian Bale, I want to get your live reactions to your thoughts on Austin Butler being the new American Psycho. Oh, has it been announced? You're joking. Yeah, it's Austin Butler. Live reaction from rich era oh my god i genuinely hadn't seen that wow i was presently himself i think he's really good and i also do really fancy him but i am surprised by that choice i feel like he does have a face that

gives wealth so it could work but i haven't seen him do anything that feels as like insane and sadistic and menacing as christian bale version of that character, which lives on in pop culture decades after the film because he did it so well. I think it should have been Jacob Elordi again. He was the better Elvis. I think Jacob Elordi would have been the better choice. Don't make a personal bet. Every film doesn't have to be a competition between them two. It's being directed by luca guadagnino

whose name i never probably say correctly and he said that he is gonna it's gonna be more sexy and everyone responded like likely style of filming for luca guadagnino because everything is always more sexual with him um so i am interested to see it because i love his direction i don't know again it's a remake we've spoken so much about remakes do we really need another american psycho i think that kristen bale's patrick bateman was iconic i iconic I think Austin Butler looks a bit too suave for me I know that Christian Bale does too but he's got a bit more of an edge I know what you mean he he looks quite like guy next door in a way that Christian Bale doesn't Christian Bale looks really preppy and has a menacing kind of look because he's so clean shaven and like angular

Austin Butler just looks like a nice guy but maybe that'll be really interesting and subversive I don't know I guess in June he played quite a standout or like he stepped out of his own kind of cookie cutter image so I probably am being a bitch and I of course will go and see this whenever it's out but I wasn't thrilled what about you and Oni what have you got to recommend for us well it's tricky isn't it because we've done so many recommendations on the podcast but I think I thrilled. What about you Anoni what have you got to recommend for us? Well it's tricky isn't it because we've done so many recommendations on the podcast but I think I spoke about this briefly but I want to bring it up again it's a show from it's a show from 2018 which I watched this year so I'm bringing it as one of my recommendations I said it as what of one I've

been loving but it's something one of the things that really stayed with me, which is Patrick Melrose, which stars Benedict Cumberbatch. And it's about an extremely rich, troubled, very British man who delves into the depths of his psyche to try and figure out his struggles with like addiction and hedonism. It's beautifully short. I love anything about really rich English people, as you guys know. And it's a bit again about what you were saying, Beth, about like our capacity for forgiveness and redemption how far will we go in order to survive life I don't know if either of you watched it did you I've not even heard of it I mean obviously you have said this before it flew right out same it was only because my ex-boyfriend it was like one of his favorite

series so we watched it together and it was so good I'm surprised it doesn't have more like critical acclaim it's really it's quite the beginning you're like oh this is really fun and and then it gets very dark quite quickly but it is just it was a really good show not from this year I'm sorry but I'm gonna do a tv one now and this is okay I'm risking allegations of being a Tory right now when I say this. And I get it, I understand, but stay with me. Clarkson's Farm was a series that along with the Paul Whitehouse and Bob Mortimer, I can see I'm going to try and win you back over. Along with the fishing show that I've mentioned a few times, it got me through that first kind of two weeks after my fairly recent breakup. I stuck it on because I thought, okay, there's nothing romantic in this. This will just be background TV. And I got really into it. Of course, I don't align with Jeremy Clarkson on probably anything. I think his recent stunts with the farming

protests, I, again, just don't align with it. But the show is inarguably very entertaining. I didn't know much about farming in the UK. I didn't know much about what goes into selling produce, farming a field, things like that. It is so bloody watchable. I think it's three seasons out so far, starting 2021. It's him buying this 1,000 acre farm. I mean, speculation, or I think maybe he says it to avoid paying inheritance tax, something along those lines. And he goes to West Oxfordshire, buys this farm, hires some local people and tries to make it work. And I find it really fascinating. The supporting cast are really entertaining. There's a really young guy called Caleb, who is a proper farmer. He's never really left West Oxfordshire. But in

the series, he's forced to drive into London in a pickup truck and sell their produce to Nobu and things like that. Jeremy Clarkson's partner is in it. Lots of local people. It is so fascinating and actually heartwarming at times. It's like life and death of the farm. You get attached to the animals. You see the brutal realities of it.

I hate to say it. I binge watched all three series and I am excited for the next two series. I know. I know. I know. Who am I people love that show so there must be a reason why it's really popular because I I think I've watched one episode and it was enjoyable but it wasn't I think I just wasn't paying attention to

it but you're definitely not alone like I know so many people who've mentioned it before I'm just so resistant to it because I think he is disgusting. Like, I think he's awful. That I think any time he comes on screen, I just cannot even like remove the initial like, ugh. I feel exactly the same as you, Ruchira. Even the thing of like people I love and respect, friends of mine, family members of mine have enjoyed the show. And I also feel the same level of resistance. But hearing you talk about it, I'm like,

maybe that is what I need to watch maybe that is where I need to go in these somber few days yes he gets taken down a peg at times as well like watching him struggle at some of the farming aspects it's it's very good like his ego takes a hit and of course you do spend a lot of time with him so if that really is impossible for you I get it but I would say over Christmas as well it is kind of for the family it's good it's good that's a good shout actually okay what is another one let's get let's get that cleanse the palette give me another one okay okay I've got a chaser for you so industry season three came out this year and it was so so good it was just like really really like high stakes tv to the point that you're like coming out in like rushes like proper like hand tingling kind of tv because you're so stressed of what's gonna happen to the characters or where it's gonna go next

completely unpredictable especially as like i consider myself like a true tv obsessive I am so fucking annoying about it I like constantly do this thing where when we're watching a show I predict where it's going to go and not to you know blow my own trumpet but I'm actually quite good at predicting quite a lot of storylines I had no idea what was going to happen in this show all of the characters are so well written they're like five dimensional The stakes of where they keep taking the show is so interesting. And they like maneuver all of these situations in ways that I've just never seen before. The comedy is also spectacular, is completely outrageous. Have you guys watched Industry or even this series? So I think you must have brought it up or something brought it back

into my mind because I watched the first series when it came out, which was I think in between lockdowns or maybe around 2020, 2021. And then it was one of those I just completely forgot that I'd watched. So I started watching season two, loving it. You've just reminded me again, I keep doing this. I keep picking up shows, watching a few episodes, getting really invested and then getting distracted. It is so good. I'd say it's like succession levels of writing. It's amazing. So yeah, I want to get, I'm really excited you said that because I want to get back into a series and now I can pick it up. It's like the bare levels of anxiety, succession levels of rich, and then something else levels of Englishness. So what industry are they in?

They're like hedge fund finance. Got it. Okay. Maybe you did mention that and it's just not my thing. Do you have to know about anything about that? Because Succession, the only drawback for me was I got confused by every single businessy plot point. You will not understand most of what's happening. Brilliant. I mean, maybe you will, but like I didn't understand a lot of what was happening on that level but I kind of just accepted something bad is happening because the music is really stressful and people look upset and that was fine no you genuinely have to because they're all sexy I remember when I first watched it I've got really over I kept trying to rewind it to understand what was happening with the figures

and numbers and like and now you just have to come to a place of acceptance where it'll make somewhere down the line someone will say something really clear cut and you'll be like that's what happened 20 minutes ago when they all like screamed at the bell or whatever happened you do just have to accept it would be nice to understand it it does also make me think god i wish a i was smarter b that i'd done like economics university i mean none of them are living like that aspirational lives they're all coked up to the nines and don't sleep very much and very stressed but they're all quite rich yeah oh I've shared someone in this oh I'll tell you off air I actually think series three is the best of all of them which this is the thing that I now remember talking about because it was the episode we spoke about

chaos and how it got cancelled after one series this series is the best it's ever been which is like such an amazing interesting point about tv shows because usually like after a first series i just think they all go downhill like i really struggle to think of any series that the second or third is the highest point maybe it's always sunny in philadelphia actually that was quite a good one succession i don't know i think with shows like this kind of show with this kind of writing they do tend to get better as they age maybe it's with more sitcom style series where it's so situational comedy then when you're trying to move the story forward it's quite hard because

there isn't as much depth whereas i think there's so much depth in the characters so much storyline it's interesting that they're getting older that they're progressing in their careers and that gives you more grounds to move maybe it's maybe it's like the type of drama can expand further yeah and also british shows as well i think they know that we prefer a shorter run and so they are always working with okay we might this probably will top out at five series max i think there's just something like you know the office you know this will sprawl on forever and ever whereas something like this which is I guess quite a narrative like quite a single like narrative point you're like well we've got to make this good quickly yeah also

tangential link to back to Batman Harry Lortie who plays Rob plays Two-Face in that series I haven't got to that bit yet because I I think I'm like over halfway but yeah weird coincidence that I mentioned those two shows love that love another one for me I'm trying to think about what I haven't spoken on about on the podcast which is so hard we do yap don't we so i read a book at the beginning of the year called the feast of the goat by mario vargas yosa i hope i'm explaining that well and it's basically about the aftermath of the assassination of the dominican dictator rafael trillo again i'm i'm using the the right words again this uh follows multiple perspectives and one of them

is from a new york lawyer who returns back to the Dominican Republic after not being there for a long time. And I didn't know much about the resistance or the fallout from this. So it was quite an interesting historical fiction for me because it threw me into a world where not only am I completely unaware of what was going on, but the dramatization of it and kind of the human stories that they tell to, especially through this one female perspective was really interesting. It was a long book it was quite challenging and it's something that I'm going I kind of have an idea I don't know if I'm going to do this so this might be a crazy thing to put out into the universe and I'm not going to it's not that crazy but I always say I have a 2b

red pile but that doesn't actually exist it's like a mental list and I was looking back at the books I'd read this year and I loved that book in terms of like that palette cleansing. It was historical. It was very long. I found it quite difficult to read. It was really interesting. And it gave me lots of jumping off points of things that I wanted to learn. And I was wondering if I want to compile a list of books to read. So maybe like every five books is a long historical fiction. Every third book is the current book that's out. Every fourth book is something from the canon that I've not yet read I think that might be one of my culture goals for the coming year because I can get into even when we're talking about Akatar in the last episode I could get into a series of just

reading one type of book or just the current books that are out sorry I know I've gone off on a tangent but this is what this podcast is for historical fiction is a real what's the it's not blind spots i don't think we say that anymore but for me it is completely untapped i don't read enough of it i would rather read historical non-fiction which actually doesn't really make a lot of sense i think because i probably would get more enjoyment out of historical fiction i've got a little bit of a guard up there so i do if you do do that i'm going to ask for that for those books the kind of fifth in the list because I would like I would like to and I think it's just a period of it's just a genre

which I don't enter and life is only so long I would like to be smarter but I would also like to be entertained it's also something I don't explore that much but the best historical fiction I ever read was called the signature of all things by Elizabeth Gilbert who also wrote eat pray love and city of girls and the signature of all things she's amazing it's again another really long book and it's basically about this woman who's the daughter of the person that brought plants over to q gardens during captain um fuck what's he called sorry wait a sec not captain kirk or maybe it is captain cook actually yeah captain jack sparrow and captain cook are the only captains I know.

I think because is Captain Cook a real person? I don't know, actually. Captain Birdseye? I think Captain Cook is. I don't know. Oh, this is going to kill me. Anyway, I can't find it. But basically, it's based on one of the oldest, most historical voyages that they take across the world. This, again, spans decades.

And his daughter ends up living, they end up being really rich and she becomes, starts studying moss and does this like, it's like a historical fiction. The fictionalized ideas about this woman that becomes this amazing brinologist, which is like the study of moss. Oh God, I've explained this so well,

but I read this like a few years ago, but it was, it really tapped into that thing of, I think maybe sometimes our reticence with historical fiction is it can often seem like it's pitched at men, I think, like a gendered kind of topic. But this one was particularly amazing. So we'll link, we're going to link all of this in the show notes. I have explained nothing well, but just trust me that when I say I like them, I them you can do your own research get wikipedia open and I'm gonna do another book I'm gonna do go back even further than Anoni's what was that 2000 or something I'm gonna go back into the 70s there's a book called Dancer from the Dance by Andrew Holleran and I think that might be a pen name of another author

but I don't know who that is and it was originally published in 1978 and had something of a cult following back then. Obviously I wasn't quite yet born, so I didn't know about that, but it's finding a new audience now after it was revived by vintage. It's a gay book, it's gay literature. And I haven't read enough gay literature. I'm realizing that now, another kind of gap in my reading. On my shelf, I've got two James Baldwin's. I've definitely got Edmund White somewhere, and I just haven't read them. Don't know why. I will correct that. Dance for the Dance is a novel that revolves around two main characters, Anthony and Andrew, who are two gay men who are searching for various things, pleasure and sex and love and belonging and

answers and things like that across New York City and Fire Island, which is the barrier island. I think it's Long Island, something like that, where it's kind of a haven for queer people. They talk about it a lot on Will and Grace. Frank O'Hara wrote poems about it. So it's very well known. And that's the vibe. And the book opens with a series of letters between these two characters. And one of them says, and I've written the great gay novel, I'm going to enclose it. So it's a novel within letters within a novel. It's kind of, I guess, meta in that way, but it's really beautiful. One of them is living in the deep South on a farm, having fled the city. The other is kind of selling sexual services in the city, in New York. Everyone's dying. It's kind of on that eve of the AIDS epidemic. And it's beautiful. It's really, really beautiful. It's brilliantly written. It's very of its time. But for a woman who was born in 1993, nowhere near New York, it has given me a glimpse into a world and a perspective which I otherwise wouldn't have had it feels like directly looking through

a keyhole and it's just fantastically written and the cover is also gorgeous which helps and I just would highly recommend it that sounds amazing sounds amazing yeah I think you'd both really like it you're so good at explaining things. Oh, really? It's good you've got a podcast, right? Oh, God. I'm blushing. Whicher of you got another one for us?

I do. I have a book and I am pretty sure that both of you, if not at least one of you, has read this, but it will be In the Dreamhouse by Carmen Maria Machado. Love, love, love, love, love. Oh, I've read it. I've got a copy, so I'll give it to you. It's absolutely breathtaking. It's genuinely one of my favorite books that I've ever read. And I constantly meet people when they've read it

saying the exact same thing. It is a memoir of an abusive lesbian relationship. And essentially, it is just like breathtaking in the style because she constantly changes the genre like every chapter and like experiments with how she tells that story and distills the information to you but what that feels like is such a level of inability to like comprehend what's going on at that moment that she's like in in this like dream world like trying to process it through all these like I guess kind of abstract ways and you're almost like doing that with her as you're reading it's like very trippy

very surreal but just I've never read anything like it and then when you do get to the kind of more straight narration styles you're almost relieved to be back in them because it feels like your feet are back on the ground but then I don't know the story is just so devastating it is it's so good who who is she to be writing a memoir I haven't heard of her I've heard the name of the book so she she's just she's just um an author and like she weaves in kind of queer history and the need to kind of solidify and cement queer history and queer stories because there aren't amazing records of it to be found unless you really go digging for it. So this is her way of highlighting that abusive relationships happen in queer relationships and also her way of cementing a story that is her own and like contributes to that history making I guess. It's such an ambitious novel it is so I

mean sorry it's such an ambitious memoir because she takes all of these literary tropes I mean no other writer that I can think of could have done this as Beautifay and of course it's her own story so a combination of things. But she does it as like, I think one chapter is a choose your own adventure. One chapter is, I think she does stuff like pathetic fallacy. She goes in the dream house as this. And it's almost like the choose your own adventure one. It's like, go to this page, go to this page.

And it's so trippy. And it's almost like the experience of being gaslit of these abuse dynamics. You don't know quite what's real and you you really become someone who is at the mercy of the storytelling and i think there's one bit that it's like in the dream house as epiphany and she says i think it's the line of most types of domestic abuse illegal that line just like shatters you and it is just it it's such a page turner so beautiful she i think she was just very protective of like a lot of queer women of saying the world hates us the world is abusive towards us what do we do when

the abuse is happening from inside the house oh I'm getting chills think about it I need to reread this actually wow I've got proper chills because I'm remembering as you're talking about it 100% What about you Anoni what's your next rec for us? I found it so hard because there's so many people talking about and we've done the deep

dive on this on the podcast but I was trying to think about genuinely what was my favourite film of the year and I was like have I watched any films I'm really getting to

that point where I really can't remember my own name and then I realised my favourite film I think and maybe this is bold was Poor Things I thought you were going to say that I know we did a whole episode on it so there's probably not much to go into but if I had to think about what would I really want to re-watch I think a Yorgos Lanthimos Poor Things film that's where I want to be yeah it's a good it's a good wreck because

a I feel like I remember like our reactions when we came out of the cinema and yeah we were completely astounded and I remember I remember like seeing you like visibly just like loving every minute of it so yeah that's yeah that's a good one to I guess like do an end of year round up for and also you'll be pleased I did actually watch The Substance. Did I tell you? No, you didn't tell me. Were you sick to your stomach?

I watched it the other week. Yeah, I was. It was interesting because I've heard so much about it now that I thought I knew the whole film. I've seen so many snippets of it. And what was also interesting is going in now knowing it's like a low budget. So how indie it actually feels,

maybe it didn't feel that much in the cinema, when I was watching at home I was like god this really is like a it felt like an indie film there was bits where I just couldn't look it exceeded my expectations I kind of thought I'd heard too much it was so good and it was not at all what I thought it was going to be yeah it's it is so good I was thinking about that about potentially re-recommending it because I loved it so much also that's interesting you said about the budget because I've been thinking for a while loads of films that we watch at the minute only center around like one room or one I guess like setting and I can't remember which film we watched but it was like one from the 1980s maybe 1990s and there were so

many different settings and venues in it oh no it was Magnolia the the 1980s maybe 1990s and there were so many different settings and venues in it oh no it was magnolia the one i recommended last week and it just like spans so many different places and settings and it felt like the budget was giant whereas i feel like so many films at the minute they are really just like localized into somebody's mad emotions but they're only staying in the house kind of vibe totally and that definitely was true of the substance like it all kind of happens in the absolutely horrible apartment it's so stressful it's so stressful and that's supposed to be a nice apartment it's just hideous yeah it's outdated any other records I've got one more I don't know if it's my my turn I've

got one more tv one which I sort of forgotten about. And then I had to go back and watch the last series of. And the TV show is called Somebody Somewhere. And I don't know anyone who's heard of this. OK, Ruchira, have you heard of this? Slash seen it.

So I saw The Guardian gave the most recent series five stars. Maybe it was four, but I'm pretty sure it was five. So that's why I took notice. But I had never heard of this show before that. But all I'm seeing is it was five. So that's why I took notice. But I had never heard of this show before that. But all I'm seeing is like rave critics reviews

like constantly at the minute about it. Oh, it is very, very good. And I do think it went a bit under the radar. People who loved it, loved it and talked about it a lot. But in the periphery of it, they didn't. So I'll set the scene slightly. It's an American comedy drama about Sam, who is a woman, I think

in her forties, who moves back to her hometown in Kansas to care for her terminally ill sister. And when the action begins, her sister's been dead for six months, but she's still in the hometown and she's working at a, I think it's like an exam in vigilation. Like she's marking papers and she meets a guy there who she used to go to school with, who is this kind of gawky, funny, brilliant guy. And she kind of falls into his circle a little bit. It's about her navigating her grief and being back in the place where she tried to escape her difficult family dynamics, alcoholism. Her other sister's sort of quite religious and a bit of a homophobe, says things like, love the sinner, hate the hate the sin things like that and she loves to sing

and she used to love to swim and she didn't really do those things anymore and it's so the two leads in it i've forgotten their names completely you will recognize them from bit parts in other tv and film and they're always very good but they were never they were kind of inconsequential to the action and to see them both as, like they're not typically beautiful Instagram faced leads. It's a fat woman in her forties who is figuring things out. It's a sort of gawky gay man. And together they are just the most perfect duo.

And it's very much about the journey. Like it's not a TV show where a million things happen and it's very pacey. And it's like, here's a plot twist. Here's an incredible reveal. It's like a TV show where a million things happen and it's very pacey and it's like, here's a plot twist. Here's an incredible reveal. It's like, here's what life is, which is like a slog from one point to the other, making meaning, trying to mend your family, trying to grieve. So funny, so charming. Cannot believe it didn't have a bigger cult following. Although I guess maybe cult following implies small. Don't know. It has three series. I think it did get canceled, but it managed to wrap up up which I think is why everyone was like five stars perfect tv shows

sort of reminded me of Schitt's Creek only insofar as it's like this is what a small town looks like this is what a life looks like this is like the beauty in the mundane it's there if you see it this is what life is I loved it huge huge recommend I am so gonna watch that like I I think I'd kind of put a mental note after seeing the reviews but I just completely forgot about it until you said but I am a thousand percent gonna watch that over Christmas now yay where is it where are you watching it so I actually bought the series I think on prime because I was kind of done searching for it I'm sure there is some way you can stream it legally or not. Look, I'm not your local police officer, but I did watch it on Prime.

I think it's, you know, £10 for the series, something like that. If you want to get a little taste, I think it's like £2 on Prime for the first episode just to see. Okay, great. I want to watch that too. My work here is done. So I have a little underappreciated show called the real housewives of salt lake city that I'm recommending never heard of such a thing yeah I don't know it's like me and maybe like two other people who watch it it's pretty pretty small um but no you and Jack Remington yeah just just us two yep it's really giving this series my god is it giving the women are giving the drama is like ridiculous but it's more a case

of I think it's a such high camp level in a way that none of the other franchises I've seen are like the people that they have on now are the most absurd like unbelievable people and their dynamics they just have to be studied because I don't understand why one group of women pretend to be friends for five series and behave in this way but it makes for really good tv okay fine I'm gonna do one more even though I already said it I finally I finished Black Doves the other day and if you haven't watched it yet at this point watch it I love it it's being renewed for second season and I'm so pleased about it did you read at Moyoya Lothie McLean's sub stack which was kind of about black doves and I actually don't want to talk about sub stack even though it's very good but she uses a term in it that

reminded me of last week's episode last week's week's four where Anoni you said am I allowed to say fag hag and in it Moya uses a term which is sort of a stand-in for that which is fruit fly and it immediately made me think I've got to tell the girls this fruit fly like you're I'm the fruit fly I'm the fly to their fruit so that's not a recommendation it's just a fantastic turn of phrase no that is a recommendation I'm absolutely that's the biggest recommendation I've taken away I'm a fruit fly so for the second part of this episode i believe it was beth had the amazing idea of a pop culture quiz but if it was you and only i'm sorry i think it was beth yeah so we're gonna do a roundup of 2024's best pop culture moments the highs the lows the mids everything and we would love if you joined us what we're going to do is we're going to go around do our own questions which the other girls haven't

seen and we're going to partake in it but we'll give you five seconds after reading the question before we share the right answer so send us your scores on our instagram are you ready ready I'm ready a video of a French pole vaulter in this year's Olympics went viral why I know I think I know big dick oh wait sorry what is that I'm not cheating I promise I didn't I promise I did know his big pole that That's such a good question. Exactly right. Big tick for you both. 100% so far and only. Big tick, big dick. So when Lorde was 10, what did someone allegedly tell her?

I got it. I don't have this. It's up to you. They said she walked like a bitch. Correct. Oh, my God. Oh, is that from the Charlie X Extra? Yes. It. Correct. Oh, my God. Oh, is that from the Charlie X Extra? Yes.

It is indeed. Oh, my God. You're not brat. No, I'm not at all brat. Which month did the AI Willy Wonka Glasgow experience happen in? Shit. I'm going to say, I thought it was January. I'm going to go March February oh well in the middle we basically

if you add ours together as well no no no it's a bit of a difference Ruchira and he gets prize money maybe one of you will get this one right how tall is Gary Barlow's son? Not a clue. Six foot two. Correct. Too short for me then. Okay, and my final question. A TikTok creator called Risa Tisa released a multi-part video series detailing her terrible relationship

with a man named Legion. How many TikToks did she release in the series? I'm certain I do know this one. Just add five seconds in. I think, I'm going to say 52 parts. I'm going to say 80. Oh. It's 50.

Maybe she released the extra two just for me. Let me double check, but I'm pretty sure it's 50. One sec. There's still a lot of parts. Fuck, I forgot about her. Oh my God, that's the only one I've got wrong is it no sorry I'm just gonna make a lot I can't remember I can't remember it says online 50 okay we'll trust online I dream the other two so those those are my questions I

am now participating okay next up question number one I'm grey i'm slimy and i'm cute all over what am i should we say it together three two one okay well done congratulations the next question i've picked five and i want you to get the five that i've got so i've said who were the top hot rodent men of 2024 if you submit the one that I haven't put down you don't get a point what okay I'm ready I think you're gonna have to go first I can't even think of three okay Josh O'Connor Matty Healy oh was Barry Keoghan one of them I I don't know. I don't think so. Can you think of any?

I can think of the other challenger. Josh O'Connor is yes. Not Matty Healy? I didn't put him down, but he was one, but I didn't write him down. What about the other challenger? This gives us bullshit. I can't think of his name. Oh. Patrick.

That's his name in the thing. But Mike Feist, yes. Mike Feist. Barry Keoghan as well and you've got two more oh dear tell you do you need a clue prince and yes sorry prince harry prince andrew no that's what she was saying i thought you were saying prince andrew so far you've got joshua connor mike feist barry keoghan another one is um what's the clue the clue is chef fictional chef Jeremy Allen White Jeremy Allen White Ratatouille would have been a good one and the last one um he's got a pet dog what does everyone that he takes everywhere oh oh no not. Yes. He's not a rodent.

That's, no. He is quite. I need. I, okay. This is nonsense. I have some issues with this, but. Okay, question number three. Who checked in to see how everyone was doing?

Oh. Elmo. Oh, sorry. We met in Wade. I know, I'm sorry. I was also going to say Elmo. Did you see Stanley Tucci also checked in on everyone? Yeah. He just wishes he was that Elmo so funny okay I've written you a little riddle for number four

oh so good on stage or set he's likely found but when romance calls his feet strike the ground I need to hear it again on stage or set he's likely found but when romance calls his feet strike the ground I know who this is who is it Paul Mezcal yeah they're running away which he did also deny so just spreading fake news okay and last question number five in august what ended for a second time oh god ended for a second time i've gone exited i'm like what did it end for a second time why are you laughing just because it's probably maybe too vague um i hope someone at home is just immediately on your wavelength okay um I don't even know what to give you a clue that just won't give you the answer it's okay it's it's a romantic relationship

oh in August Jeff Jeff luck oh well done oh I love that tweet about her that's like she's never ugly or depressed like she can be going through j-lo this is can be going through hell but she she's never ugly and she's never depressed like she's always out the house she always always it's amazing i also think it's so funny because they then did you see the picture of them kissing like not that long ago and then he also was looking really happy with the other gen i love it he is so messy i adore them both proper celebrities them too great quiz thank you oh welcome okay i'm surprised i've got none of the same questions as as either of you which is no overlaps a lot has happened this year okay i'm gonna give you the first

question i would like you to name two of the four of Joe Lycett's fake news stories that he released. I want to say about midway through the year. So just two of them. There were four in total. Oh, I've got two. Okay, I've got two. Because I'm thinking of the ones that turned out that weren't actually him. Maybe go on each.

I can't actually remember. Okay, so the hedgehog that was a hat and then I've got the second one which is H from Steps having a statue

unveiled of him in his hometown I actually haven't got any I'm so sorry I don't know about the hedgehog hat one I actually think that might have been

a real story I'm going to double check oh wait I'm scared that that was a real story maybe so I think that was actually a real story that was one of the suspected hoaxes but it was actually a real news story but the other one

the atrium steps was correct so there's three to play for you got one point there there was the rumor that he did the wonka thing but that wasn't him what other fake stories were there oh god I'm really racking my brains I remember this so clearly but because we got quite cross about it in the end, didn't we? We did a whole segment on it. We must have stopped telling fake stories. You can bow if you need to. I can't remember. I'm bowing out. Can you tell us?

The other three were, so Richira got one right there. The other three were, one, there was a five-a-side football player who had a bruise and it was in the shape of Prince Harry. Another one, which was a report that men from Birmingham have the longest willies in the UK. And the third was a mural of Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz was unveiled in Birmingham and he reported that it was a Banksy and it was not a Banksy. So I feel like I stumped you a little bit there. But it was very stumping. Okay. Third question. Which celebrity brought a telly into the glastonbury campsite so they and other attendees could watch the euros i can see his face in my brain but it's one direction it's i've got it louis louis tomlinson it was i was gonna say

it was and all of these i want to say have been on our show i thought this was gonna be very easy because we've covered all of these so far well done ruchira i think that's my three questions have i got four or the like this last one do more i'm really enjoying it do as many as you got yeah okay joe alwyn paul mezcal and andrew scott are in a group chat together what is slash was the name of that group chat as revealed by andrew and pa Paul earlier this year it wasn't the torture parts department was a bit it was the tortured something the tortured boys maybe I don't know the tortured actors the tortured young men you're so close I'm gonna say that you've both pretty much got that it's the the Tortured Man Club.

And I think this was before the famous album came out, which, lol. Yes, because then everyone was saying that it was, yeah. Okay. Okay, I've got, I think this might be my last one. Okay. What star sign is our beloved Mudang? Oh my God. Fuck, she was born in the summer.

Because I know that she's, I think she's four months old to wait december november september september baby she's uh is she no sagittarius is december is it no oh no together li'm going to say Libra. What are you saying, Anoni? Oh, no, because cancer's summer. Shit. God, I should know this. September. Why is that? I'm going to say Virgo, but I think that's wrong.

So she was born on July 10th, which makes her a cancer. Oh. Yeah. Oh, if I knew it was July, I would have known she was a cancer. Damn it. I got her age wrong. I thought she was four months old. So I think that is it.

I did do a bonus question, which actually favours Anoni because she's the one that said it. But I'm going to say it anyway. This is a bonus episode for the fans and for you too. This year, when we talked about bringing kids into the pub, e.g. is it rude? Is it okay? Should dogs be allowed everywhere?

Anoni said if she could bring her baby dog Astrid anywhere, she would bring her to the blank and i can give you multiple choice if that would help or you can tell me yes please okay was it a the cinema b the club or c the gym oh do you know i think it was the cinema yeah was it not sure I feel like it is the cinema too it was the club you like to bring us oh my god do you know what it's because I've changed so much this year earlier on this year I was so in my brat era and then it was like since maybe around August I've just become a

hermit and I can't I don't I've changed you like the library maybe that August, I've just become a hermit and I can't, I don't, I've changed. You were like the library maybe? That's what I was thinking. I was like, it's definitely not the club. Anoni's not at the club these days. No, I'm never in the club. So that concludes. Well, she's old enough now, I guess.

She's 21 in dog years, so she could be in the club. She could be in America in the club. Still growing up. Okay. Well, I think that was a great quiz round. We didn't do as well as I perhaps thought we would, but we did pretty well. I'd like to hear from everyone at home

whether you beat us in the quiz round. To round it off, should we do a few predictions for next year? I think so. 2025 pop culture do i have any no you please take take the mic well my first one and i think this is probably cheating what i'm about to say so um i would like to say that taylor and travis are either going to break up or get engaged oh interesting which do you actually think it's going to be though if you had to call it i

think they should break up because i find them really annoying, but probably engaged. They probably won't base it on that, if I'm being honest. I agree. I think they're going to be engaged, but it's going to be a really long engagement. There'll be no marriage for a long, long time. Maybe both. Break up, engage and then break up. Oh, that would be spicy.

Oh, my God. Imagine the album that's going to drop the triple visual 90 songs sensory yeah okay that's a good one i agree with you i've got one i think on this on the topic i think beyonce and jay-z are going to get a divorce i don't wish for it because god knows maybe she's happy but i think it's Neutrally I'm just going to say I think it's going to happen I think so That's crazy Spicy as a take I feel like they will never get divorced

I don't know why I think I just feel like they will never Unless Rumour Mill on the internet Comes into fruition I feel like potentially then she has no other choice But to divorce But it's not just the Rumour Mill on the internet now it's very much real life big real life look at us trying not to get sued love that for us that's my prediction we get sued if you're listening to this please don't be

litigious okay other predictions I think Wicked will be nominated for a lot of Oscars. I think it's going to win one and it's not going to be for acting. That's my hot spicy take. And people are going to be really pissed off. Oh, I can see that happening. I've got one. It breaks my heart to say this because I'm actually just shitting on myself, but I don't think Chapel Rowan is going to turn up at Primavera. And I love her. So this isn't a comment of being a hater. I just, I don't see myself seeing Chapel Rowan maybe in this lifetime, maybe in my next lifetime.

Oh, wow. I think that could be really real. I predict that Eminem is going to be at Glastonbury, which I don't want to predict because I haven't got tickets and he's one of the only people that would make me regret not having tickets. I saw him at Reading Festival probably about 15 years ago and he brought Dido out was it amazing oh you're joking it was really fun I mean I was like a

teenager at the time I mean I'm a very young person obviously I'm 25 years old but I was very young and I saw it was it was really fun I think it was the year that Green Day was there again I think I'm aging myself but it was really fun that is and if you could get Dido Green Day and Eminem for me I would wow my head was exploding what about Jojo Siwa I think she's gonna have a face tattoo or just something's gonna happen with Jojo Siwa like arrested or face tattoo just to kind of mark her next Miley Cyrus era arc I think there's's going to be, I hope it's face tattoos, to be honest. I think Selena Gomez is going to possibly have a baby with Benny Blanco. Yeah, with Benny Blanco next year.

I was thinking the same thing. I also think, I wonder if Northwest is going to launch her own podcast or to have her own Albert. She's going to do something like professionally career-wise next year. That's a really good shout. I think Love Island will be cancelled. I think we've finally reached the end of it. I think we're either going to have

the last series this year. I think the cancellation will be announced this year. I think that Maya Jammer will get a new boyfriend. Or a girlfriend. Is she bi? Well, I don't know.

I just can't have a heart that wishes, can I? It's going to be you. Again, I have a heart that wishes. I'm sorry that my optimistic little heart. I could see it. Maya, call me on the telephone. You're open to opportunities and that's beautiful. Certainly I am.

I think a big haw big Hawk Tour news. Either she'll go to prison or she will do a Skims collab or she will also be in government. Hawk Tour. Not a Hawk Tour Skims collab. Oh my God. That's a good genre of predictions. Who's going to be on there?

I think Amy Lou Wood might be because she's in White Lotus, the new series coming out next year and she's so charming I feel like they're gonna have to give her like a really interesting role so maybe Amy Lou Woods for Skims 2025 oh that's a good prediction I think something is going to happen with OnlyFans that Lily documentary, everyone's talking about it. I think that there's going to be some kind of like government legislation to do with sex workers sleeping with randomly public people. I think Gen Z are going to get really into the aesthetics of maybe like 2006, 2009 and wear like owl necklaces,le nail varnish tights with shorts I think heeled trainers I think they're gonna come into that aesthetic that is disgusting revolting

absolutely like genuinely revolting I actually saw a young girl out with her friends earlier when I was walking Astrid and all the girls were wearing like the normal jean that's in at the minute and she was wearing skinny jeans but she looked like she was like the leader of the pack so canary in the coal mine I think they're coming back thank you so much for listening this week and this year just a reminder that we've expanded the everything is content universe and we dropped a brand new extra episode on wednesday so please give it a listen and let us know what you think if you've enjoyed the podcast this year and by gosh we've been loving doing it then please do

leave us a rating or if you really want to spoil us a review on your podcast app five stars would make us feel extra christmassy please also follow us on instagram and tiktok at everything is content pod where you'll find us getting into the discourse and we promise in the new year there's going to be some extra content video content on both those platforms see you next year bye