Suggestible - Avatar: The Way of Dog

Episode Date: May 12, 2022

Suggestible things to watch, read and listen to. Hosted by James Clement @mrsundaymovies and Claire Tonti @clairetonti.This week’s Suggestibles:01:45 Anatomy of a Scandal10:23 Heartstopper16:17 The Way of Dog20:55 Bel-Air & F.D Signifier’s Will Smith Video26:32 Avatar: The Way of Water TrailerSend your recommendations to [e-mail], we’d love to hear them.You can also follow the show on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook @suggestiblepod and join our ‘Planet Broadcasting Great Mates OFFICIAL’ Facebook Group. So many things. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hi, I'm Jessi Cruikshank from the number one comedy podcast, Phone a Friend, which I strongly advise you listen to. You know what else I suggest you look into? Becoming a host on Airbnb. Did you like that segue? Thank you. I recently started putting my guest house on Airbnb when I'm out of town, and I didn't realize how easy it would be until I did it. If you have a spare room, you could Airbnb it, or your whole place could be an Airbnb. It's a great way to make a little extra money by doing not a lot, which frankly is my mantra in 2024. To learn more, go to airbnb.ca slash host. Bing bong, bing bing bong. Wow. I can't believe we'd never missed a week. I'm so sorry, everyone. We missed a week. We've had some real sicknesses in this old household.

No, I wouldn't have it any other way. No. Do you know what? We had the old gastro bug. I won't go into details because no one needs to hear that in a podcast. However, I will just say it's the worst. At least it was brave, but we all got it on different days. It was so bad. It was so bad. And I just felt like a tiny child. You know, and like, there was a point where I said to James, if this is it, if I'm going to die, I love you. The LR details are here. Because I just was staring into a plastic bucket and it was not pretty. And I was like, yeah, yeah, look, I've got to edit some audio

for Revenge of the Sith. We're doing a video on it. So I don't have time. If you've got anything you want to say to me, you can write it down because I've really got to get this over to Ben and Lawrence. That's so funny. I was like shimmering in a blanket over me and at one point I'm just like, James, thank you so much for being here.

And you're like, what am I going to do, not be here? Yeah, good luck. See you later. It was terrible though because it all happened in delay so we could kind of see the symptoms coming at us. We have different strategies of being sick.'s like leave me alone you're like a dog that crawls under a house yeah and i'm very much like everyone but sorry for me and bring me warm things and can you have my heat back and i don't know what i'm gonna do anyway every both both strategies

get you through whatever gets you through mate absolutely absolutely right and have we got some things that we've been watching to get us through cla Claire? Because I've just put up my list. A thousand percent. I've watched a couple of little fun things. Oh, me too. I've been watching a few fun things. What have you got? I'm doing a fun thing. Do you want to go first? No, I don't mind. You go first. Oh, all right. Okay. So my first one is Anatomy of a Scandal. Oh, I saw this. Very British. Yes, so it's on Netflix. It is British. It's starring one Sienna Miller. Yes.

She's excellent in this. I feel like, so it's basically exactly what you would think. It's set in London. There's an MP who is married to Sienna Miller and he, it appears, has an affair with one of his staffers. And on the surface it seems like, is it just an affair? And he has to kind of tell her in the first episode and it's this like big bombshell because they're obviously, you know,

from very high society and, you know, chuffing around. They have two little kids and they live in this incredible like kind of brownstone thing. Oh, yeah. Anyway, amazing. Costume are getting me through. It got me through my illness, the costumes in this. They are just absolutely stunning and Sienna Miller is just perfection.

Her hair alone, amazing. Anyway, let's get back to the actual crux of the drama. And so it appears it's an affair, but then quickly it appears then later that his staff is accusing him of sexual assault. Ah, okay. Yes, in an elevator. And it's a very much, there's only two of them in the room, so no one else has really witnessed to it.

Yep, yep. And so he's denying the whole thing. Which is often how these things go. Correct. Exactly. It's, look, I really enjoyed it for lots of different reasons. One, because I thought it did a really good job of the courtroom and the head lawyer as well is really excellent.

She is from Downton Abbey and I've just forgotten her name. Oh, no. Her name is Michelle Dockery. No? Is that correct? Michelle Dockery, yeah. She's the brunette. Yeah, Michelle Dockery.

Yes, correct. So she's so good in this. And it's Rupert Friend is the guy, is that right? Yes, correct. This is Rupert Friend. Oh, gosh. That's right. Slightly more handsome in that photo of him being bald and alien. What's that from? He's in the new Obi-Wan series that's coming up, which I know you're excited for. Oh, gosh. That's right. He's slightly more handsome in that photo of him being bald and alien.

What's that from? He's in the new Obi-Wan series that's coming up, which I know you're excited for. Oh, God, no. I've really become anti, like I used to just be like, oh, this is a lovely thing, and now I viscerally refuse to watch any of it. I don't know what's happening to my brain.

Since lockdown I had to just talk about superheroes and Star Wars incessantly. Well, now actually it's because I know people love a trailer reaction. This week I've got a brand new trailer for you to react to at the end. Oh, God. Is that why you're so excited? You're like rubbing your hands in glee like a little man who's got some butter and pancakes.

That's right. And I rub them together in my hands. In your hot little hands. Anyway, yeah, so back to Sienna Miller. So, yes, that's basically a courtroom drama and also a look at how their lives kind of. Is it based on anybody in particular? Because I know there are a few British MP scandals.

It's not exclusive to England. Yeah, there's definitely, it's not any one specific one. Yeah. But there's very clear references and I won't spoil it. However, I will say that there's a lot of commentary around when you are wealthy and well-connected, everyone covers up for you. And I would dare I say it when you are of a male gender and white and straight and in a powerful position, it's clear that the PM at the time is also friends, very old school

chums. Yeah, they're always the same Oxford or something. Yeah, exactly. And they're all part of a, is it a sorority, whatever it's called, a boys club back in college. Or whatever it is. Yeah, and they have kind of, you know, those slogans. And anyway, so there's a few scandals that happened in their past,

which means that the PM owes this MP. Right. And so it's clear. It's just very pointed and kind of really depressing in a way about how when you are wealthy and powerful, people will just allow you things. And there's a lot of commentary. There's a beautiful scene between his mother and Sienna Miller's character, his wife, where his mother talks about how she used to encourage him

or at least let him lie and cheat in board games because it appears that, you know, one of the reasons he's a very good politician is he's a very good liar and he's very good at kind of bending the truth to suit his own ends. And you sort of aren't sure by the end of it whether he thinks that he did assault her or not. Yeah, right. Are you giving away the ending here? No, I'm not.

No, no, no, no. No, I'm just saying, and I'm not going to give any more spoilers about the chorus, but I just will say that it's clear through, they kind of make the point that it's sort of ambiguous as to whether he thinks he did it or not. Well, I guess also. However, it is very clear that he did do it, I think. Okay, okay.

Completely. But no spoilers, obviously, from what you've said. But I think that's the narrative often like people who are villains, like in real life villains, you have to tell yourself certain things to kind of because you can't walk around being like, oh, no, I'm the bad guy. You know what I mean? Yeah.

Nobody wants to think that of themselves. And also I think there's something about privilege, right, and how when you're a very handsome, athletic person, man, let's say. When you're trying to track down Obi-Wan Kenobi, you think that you're right. Correct. Exactly. No, but you know, when you're a very handsome, attractive, intelligent man, who's been gifted a lot of things in life, lucked out in a lot of different ways, there's a line that he says to his kids all the time, which is, you know, our family always comes out on top, basically. And realistically in life, those wealthy, powerful people tend to,

which is what is so depressing about the system. Yep, because it just gets replaced by someone who's almost the same. Yeah, and they all kind of cover up from what's happened in our country, particularly in politics, but everywhere really. Yeah. Boys will be boys. They cover up for each other and then they disappear for a bit and come back and everything's fine.

Yeah. And, you know, and that I think is the commentary in this. But also aside from all of that, I also just really love the sets and costumes. Look, the script isn't incredible but it's just a really kind of beautiful world to live in where everyone's dressed in like incredibly tailored beautiful jackets and chic shirts and everyone's hair is glamorous and they're all drinking scotch

and, you know, strolling around the wealthy halls of London. The funny thing about like a lot of politicians, and this is true in Australia and I know it's true in England as well, a lot of these fucking toffs or whatever, they're just buffoons. Like you catch them like in a private conversation or things that they've done in the past. They're just a bunch of fucking knuckleheads with like nice clothes, you know what I mean?

Yeah, and who've gone to the right schools. Who've just been handed a bunch of stuff, yeah. Yeah, they've gone to the right schools. They've got the right accent. They can be quite intelligent. Of course, yeah. But you're right, because no one's ever had to say no to them, you know, exactly right.

They're so unaware of their own privilege. I used to work with a guy like that who was so unaware of his own privilege. I remember that guy. And the things that he would say to women in particular was so shockingly unaware, you know. It wasn't even like some of it was malicious, but some of it was just he literally had no idea that what he said was in any way problematic.

You know, when it was hugely problematic, no one had just pulled it up. I just want to clarify as well that as soon as I met that guy, I'm like, this is a terrible person from what I remember, from what I recall, Claire. He came from a very privileged background. Yeah, I hope he's all right. He is. Yeah, and that's exactly the thing.

There were some things that went down and he's still completely fine. And that, you know, I can't really go into more detail than that other than to say that this rings very true to me, this show. Well, I'm going to name him. I'm going to say this person's name. I can't remember his name to be honest. Anyway, but, you know, it's just a real narrative about that. But also if you just really enjoy Sienna Miller, actually,

there's one other fact I thought was quite interesting about this show. Okay. In real life, Sienna Miller was the victim of a massive cheating scandal. With Jude Law? Yes, correct. That was like the mid-2000s. Yeah, it was.

And it really affected her career hugely. Her career took a massive nosedive after that. She had to be in G.I. Joe after that. Awful. Well, she's a really excellent actress. I agree. And it's just really interesting to me that this role, I don't know, it just parallels.

It wasn't, you know, Jude Law wasn't an MP, but he was an incredibly high profile. They're one of the ick couples. And somehow she was affected much worse than he was. Oh, wait, so he cheated on her. Is that right? Yeah. I thought so.

She wasn't. Yeah, so they married and then he cheated. I thought that he was married to somebody else. No, no, no, no, right? Yeah. I thought so. She wasn't. Yeah, so they married and then he cheated. I thought that he was married to somebody else. No, no, no, no, no, no. They were together. They were a really high profile couple and then he cheated on her and it affected her career, which I guess is a sign of the times, right? Yeah.

At that time people kind of saw him as a bad boy, I guess, in some ways. And people love Jude Law now because he's Dumbledore in everybody's favourite prequel trilogy. Anyway, I mean, look, he's incredibly good looking but, you know, also not cool, Jude Law. Yeah, Jude Law. We know you're listening and we think that thing you did is not cool. No, anyway, I enjoyed it.

So that's on Netflix. Over to you. Here's something that's also British, Claire. It's called Heartstopper. It stars Kit Conner and Joe Locke. Oh, this is a romance comedy. It is. I'm really excited to watch this.

It's not really a comedy. Like it's a little bit funny, but it's more on the romantic side. So it's a British coming of age romance based on the web comic and graphic novel of the same name by Alice Osman, who also wrote these eight episodes. So the synopsis is teens Charlie and Nick discover their unlikely friendship might be something more as they navigate school and young love. So the lead character in it, well, there's a few leads,

but the main person is Charlie and he's recently come out as a year 10 student at a private boys' school. And so in one of his classes he's paired up with a year 11 rugby player whose name is Nick. And initially he's like, ah, well, you seem like a rugby player. Ah, he's going to beat me up and whatever, all of those kinds of things. But it turns out that as a result of them sitting together, like a friendship developed, like an unlikely friendship,

and then from that like slowly like a romance develops. And so the eight episodes, they kind of both of them navigate their feelings and their sexuality and it also deals with like gender norms and also other homophobic classmates who like see these two together and like, what are you hanging out with this guy for, do you know what I mean? And there's like a trans girl who had to move schools from their schools who gets a lot of play in this as well. So it deals with like kind of the different kind of social groups

within a high school. And like all of that aside, it's just like a really nice story of two boys like falling in love. You know what I mean? Yeah. And one of them already being out and one of them kind of dealing with their sexuality and like where do they kind of fit on the spectrum and those kinds of things. And it's not one of those situations where like they get into arguments

of like I saw you with so-and-so and now I'm mad or whatever. They kind of avoid all of those tropes. You know what I mean? Yeah, yeah. Like there are like awkward situations where like, you know, them think someone's dating someone else or whatever, they kind of avoid all of those tropes, you know what I mean? Yeah, yeah. Like there are like awkward situations where like, you know, them think someone's dating someone else or whatever, but it never kind of blows out in that really kind of obvious way. And I think what works for me about it is the two leads,

they're really kind of nice and work well together and you kind of want and you not kind of, you do, you want them to get together and it's just nice seeing two nice people, like, fall in love. You know what I mean? If I had to give one criticism of this show. Oh, here he goes. Which I guess you have to. Which I have to.

It's that, like, the bullies who are, like, the rugby team, they're like, oh, what are you up to? Oh, is that your boyfriend? And it's like, this is just a pack of theatre kids you've given fucking haircuts to. Do you know what I mean? Like, aside from that, because they're not, I'm like, I've seen bullies and this is not it.

But I guess, you know, private school kind of toffs, do you know what I mean, at the same time. Yeah, yeah. But I really enjoyed it. Like it's, as I said, it's only eight episodes. It's on Netflix. It could be very much self-contained. There's also room for it to move on.

But it's like really sweet and it's really heartwarming. And I just – it was just a nice – I watched it and I'm like, that was a nice thing that I watched. I really enjoyed that, yeah. Yay. I know. I've been seeing it everywhere and lots of people have been recommending it. So I'm glad you really enjoyed it because I definitely will watch it now.

Yeah, it was really nice. Yeah. And, again, I can't stress enough, like, I mean, the writing's great, but so much of it is, like, those – the two leads. Yeah, completely. They're just so nice. Like, look at really nice. Yeah. And, again, I can't stress enough, like, I mean, the writing's great, but so much of it is, like, those two leads. Yeah, completely. They're just so nice. Like, look at these nice boys getting along, you know. So nice.

And do you know what? In general, that's what I'm so excited for about this new generation of, like, young people coming up. I just think in general they seem much nicer and more, you know, I think so. I think they have less kind of hang-ups about, like, sexuality and, like, if someone's gay or trans. Not exclusively because I know that's obviously not the case,

but it was different than when we were at school like 20 years ago. They're more conscious and aware of their surroundings and their impact on others, I think. And Olivia Colman's in it. Olivia Colman's in it. I know, I saw. I love her. She's not in it much, but she's in it and she's really good.

She's great. Whatever she's in, so good. I know I saw her in, what was the last thing I saw her in? The Lost Daughter. And I loved that. I mean, that's a very grim movie. Oh, yeah. But I just loved it because she depicted a really angry woman so well.

Yes. And just a type of motherhood that you don't get to see often on screen because guys get to be that horrible father all the time. Yeah. But women don't really get to be bad mothers on screen because guys get to be that horrible father all the time. Yeah. But women don't really get to be bad mothers on screen. Obviously there are mothers. Oh, not bad. Maybe, yeah.

Yeah. Very vacant, not really there, not wanting to be there kind of mothers. Absolutely. Oh, and the other thing, they're like, the people who are in it, they're like 18 now, which they probably would have filmed it when they were 17, which also adds to it because it's like, yeah, these are like actual teenagers as opposed to like 24-year-olds pretending to be teenagers.

I think that adds like a layer to it as well of reality, which was good. Yeah, which is like what I really enjoyed Spider-Man, you know, the high school one. I'm Tom Holland. Well, he's like 25 now. I know, but back the first one, right? He was a teenager. Yeah, he was. He was probably 19 when that first one.

Yeah, but he felt much more like it. Rather than like, what was the, is it Not Dawson's Creek, the other one? Tobey Maguire? No, no, no, not the Spider-Man. I'm talking about the TV show. The show Dawson's Creek. No, yeah, the TV show Not Dawson's Creek.

It's the one with Chris McCarr in it. Oh, the OC. The OC, where everyone's like 25. It was weird because they were like, Ryan from The O.C. is the bad boy at high school. And the next minute he turns up, he's like, I'm Jim Gordon. I'm the boss of the Gotham Police Department. I'm like, wait, what?

What happened? It was like two years ago. You were in Daughters Creek or whatever that show was you were in, The O.C. The O.C. I loved The O.C. to be fair. Me too. But like, not teenagers. No, absolutely not.

No, definitely grown human people. But anyway, that sounds really cool. Heartstopper is on Netflix. Excellent. All right, cool. There's so many good things on Netflix. I agree. I'm into it.

All right, so the next thing. Actually, I don't agree. There's a lot of crap on Netflix. Oh, there is. But I know, but I really not watch much on Netflix. And then I feel like recently I've been watching two things on Netflix and you've watched the thing on Netflix. So there's a few little nuggets of gold.

Hi, I'm Jessie Cruikshank from the number one comedy podcast, Phone a Friend, which I strongly advise you listen to. You know what else I suggest you look into? Becoming a host on Airbnb. Did you like that segue? Thank you. I recently started putting my guest house on Airbnb when I'm out of town and I didn't realize how easy it would be until I did it. If you have

a spare room, you could Airbnb it or your whole place could be an Airbnb. It's a great way to make a little extra money by doing not a lot, which frankly is my mantra in 2024. To learn more, go to Airbnb.ca slash host. I have got a book to talk about today, which I'm really excited about. Oh my God. Yay. Literacy. Literacy. So it's actually illustrated by a friend of ours, Sean Buckingham. Oh my God. It's really cool. It's his first fully illustrated book, which is really exciting. Well, fully illustrated in that he's done 20 illustrations within the book and it's a really unusual format. So the book's called The Way of the Dog by Zama Freilon.

And it's actually a book written in prose from the perspective of a dog. So I know you hate poetry, but you do love dogs. Well, you did until we got a second dog. And now I hate dogs. You've destroyed my love of dogs. I know. Oh, man. Anyway, but it's all written from the perspective of the dog,

which I think is really, really cool. And Sean has done a beautiful job of illustrating Scruffity. So I'll just give you a little synopsis. So Scruffity is born into the harsh grey world of a puppy farm. Yeah, so it's quite a sad story actually. Taken from his mama and locked in a concrete cage, what he yearns for most is family. To belong is the way of dog but no one wants him but just as his chances of adoption grow dangerously thin

scrappity is set free by a boy as unwanted and lonely as he is outside scrappity learns all about the way of dog it is to run to dig to how, and biggest of all, to love. But when tragedy strikes, Scruffity is suddenly all alone. How does a dog find his way home when he never had one to begin with? So the way of dog came to Zana when she was investigating how to train her own dog to become an assistance dog for her daughter. My daughter has Tourette's syndrome and as part of this, she will sometimes have what are known as tick fits. We noticed that our dog would go to our daughter before she would start fitting,

before there was any outward sign and the dog would lay her head on our daughter's lap to calm her, says Zana. Later I was reading a book that talked about the way dogs see the world and how to use that knowledge to train them and I happened upon a documentary about prisoners being used to train assistance dogs. These dogs had been rescued from the pound and the beauty and cyclical nature of the training program was astounding. Halfway through the doco, Scruffity leapt into my head and refused to budge. It didn't matter that I was knee deep in a manuscript already. I couldn't get Scruffity out of my head and suddenly verse fit. Why should dogs talk like people? Dogs have their own rhythm Yeah. Yeah, it's really cool.

That's an interesting perspective, you know, because, yeah, because there's that thing of like if an animal really could speak English, like the frames of reference would be so like different. Completely different. It would not be a conversation. It would be bizarre. Yeah, totally. I mean, in the book, the dog Scruffity calls people shoe legs,

stuff like that. So it's like very much from this dog's perspective and the rhythm and pacing is so interesting. And she found a lot of interesting facts. I went to the book launch and Sean just nailed this gorgeous illustration of Scruffity on the front cover. He based it on their family dog. I didn't think he could do it and I told him that.

I said, I don't think you're up for this. Oh, no, he spent so much time on the illustrations and you can really tell they're absolutely stunning and heartbreaking as well. And there's something about thinking about a dog and the way that a dog affects us as humans. And I was listening to Zana talk about how she learned through her research that dogs actually domesticated us,

not us domesticated us, not us domesticated dogs. To get close to the fire or whatever. Yeah. They taught us how to be a good companion, which I find really, really interesting as well. And their way of being in the world through scent and smell, when you actually really watch a dog and the way they move, it's so interesting just to see where they stop and why they stop and the communication that happens. It's all completely nonverbal. And I know for our dog, when I was pregnant and had contractions, or when anyone is feeling really upset in the house, our dogs will come to you.

And sometimes you think this is so annoying. I'm actually like feeling really upset now. Go away. But they're actually there because they can sense something isn't right. Yeah, absolutely. Which I think is a beautiful thing to remember. Anyway, so it's called the way of Dog, not The Way of the Dog, The Way of Dog, and I really recommend it.

It's kind of probably for kids around, I don't know, eight, nine-ish or something like that. Yeah, something you probably want to read with them as well. Yeah, and if you've got a dog lover, like an adult dog lover in your life, they would just think this is a gorgeous gift as well. Unless they're like me where they're given too many dogs and they no longer enjoy dogs. I know.

It's all right. Is it? I don't know. No, they're good dogs. We've got two good dogs. Fantastic. Two good dogs. All right.

As always, I think Colleen's links everything below. I think he does. So, yeah, if you want to check that out. Correct. I watched a show which I didn't think I would ever watch, called Ballet. Oh, my goodness. A re-imagine of the beloved sitcom The Fresh Prince of Ballet set in modern-day America through a new dramatic take on Will Smith's complicated journey from the streets of West

Philadelphia to the gated mansions of Ballet. So the reason I watched this is because there's a great YouTuber I've talked about before called FD Signifier, who talks about a lot of the systemic issues of black culture in America. And he has a background in education. He's worked with kids and now he deals exclusively, well, not exclusively, I'm sure he does a bunch of things because he's got his own family, of what it means to be a man within that community, like the different people who are held up to a particular standard. He does a fascinating two-part series on Obama and the Obama presidency and what that meant and what that actually means when you, like, look at what he actually did and maybe not great, maybe not great stuff.

You know what I mean? So anyway, he recommended this off the back of the Will Smith incident we talked about of the show because some of the show but not all of it, the original show at least, reflects Will Smith, but it's also more about like the creator of that show and his experiences growing up. So what they've done here, as mentioned, it's a retelling. So it's not a comedy. So I thought like, I'm not watching a reboot of Fresh Prince, you know. But I think that's one of its greatest strengths is that it is a completely

different take on what is essentially the same story. So it's got Jabari Banks as Will Smith. It's got Ole Chototan as Carlton Banks. It's got Coco Jones as Hilary Banks. And what it does, I feel, it adds some depth to some of the characters that maybe aren't fleshed out enough. For example, Hilary Banks is kind of like this, this kind of airhead kind of socialite character. They changed that around where she is an upcoming

influencer and what that means in terms of how much you put yourself out there. You know what I mean? People trying to exploit you, what gets clicks and what doesn't. She's not kind of like, oh, I just, I love boys and I love dresses or whatever. It's, they've really like fleshed out all of the characters. Even like Jeffrey, the butler is like a fully fleshed out kind of, he's like this kind of English dude who's clearly got like, he's done some shady stuff and continues to do some shady stuff for the family to kind of keep things kind of running. It also like it takes characters like Carlton,

who's kind of like a clown, not always but in the original series, and it changes that almost completely where he's the one kind of he's the cool guy at school and he's doing lacrosse, you know what I mean, and everybody looks up to him, whereas when the Will Smith character comes in, all of that is thrown out of balance because, you know, he's no longer seen a certain way. Do you know what I mean? Okay, yes.

Yeah. It also kind of gets into the Banks' parents' relationship, which is really interesting because he, at the start of the series, is running for governor and she was an artist and she gave it up for his career and when she had kids. So basically she's trying to kind of move back into that field and how does that conflict with his goals also? So're not like it's not like it's not a perfect relationship and you see them kind of battle through their different ideals and also because they're there's there's like the public eye on them then that changes kind of the you know how they need to present themselves and and but also it tells as mentioned it tells the story so you see at the start will smith in philadelphia

and he gets into the basketball match and then there's the fight and the reason why he has to move in the first place and they kind of ground a lot of that in reality and what that really means and how he got arrested and his uncle bailed him out but under different circumstances he would have been in jail for for what he did you know. So I was really surprised. Like I thought, again, like I'm not, yeah, this is, why would I watch this? But I just thought it was like really complex in the way the original show couldn't really be.

Not that it's a bad show because it's obviously not. It was really influential and it's a great show. But I just, I think if you're kind of like, eh, this is not really something I'd be interested in, I think it might just surprise you. It's so interesting because sometimes I see Reboot and I think, you know, or reimagining. I think if it was a comedy, then I know I don't think it would work,

you know. Yeah. I also think everybody's so good in it and like not just in particular but if you look at the Will Smith's character, he's so good in it and like not just in particular but if you look at the Will Smith's character, he's so great as kind of a different interpretation of Will Smith and Carlton in particular, he's kind of this, yeah, like he's like a kind of like a preppy kind of lacrosse kind of guy but he also has like a pill addiction.

It's, yeah, it's. It's really interesting. I'm actually going to watch that now, now that you've said that. What is it on? Stan maybe? I can't remember. Yeah, I've been seeing you watching it and thinking, oh, that's interesting interesting. Good. I'm actually going to watch that now, now that you've said that. What is it on? Stan maybe? I can't remember. Amazon? Yeah, I've been seeing you watching it and thinking,

oh, that's interesting. I don't know. Because I remember watching the Will Smith, you know, the Prince of Bel-Air kind of reunion show. And I found that so interesting and moving. And because you're right, at that time a show like that probably wouldn't have got mainstream viewing, right? Yeah.

But as a comedy, Bel-Air really crossed over and I think that's so exciting. So cool. Great. All right. Very good. I'm going to give it a go. Check it out. That sounds awesome.

Cool. I just, yeah, it's funny, isn't it, how that whole Will Smith thing was so huge and then. And that's the only reason I started watching it because, again, this FD Signifier YouTuber, he talks about his relationship with his father and how and the pressures that he puts upon himself and all these kinds of things and basically everything that kind of led up to that moment, you know. Yeah. And so that's how I kind of, that's how it started.

That's how I, yeah. So interesting, isn't it? Yeah. Anyways, Claire, it's trailer reaction time. Oh, God. As I know, as it often is. Now, this one you're going to love because I know you're a big fan of the original and I know you're a big fan of 3D.

I hate 3D. You are going to watch Avatar, The Way of Water, the official trailer. Yes. Do I need 3D goggles? No, you don't. It's only a minute 40. Oh, God. You're going to watch it and then we're going to come back

and talk about it. Is this the one that you watched and it made you seasick or something? Yes, Claire. Because you're old and you can't handle 3D anymore? All right, the way of water, the way of snorter. I meant snoring. That wasn't funny. So, Colleen, delete that joke.

It wasn't a good one. Ah, it looks like a video game. No, Claire, it's real. Why are they skipping? Okay, I kind of actually really love this. I know that you didn't like Avatar, but it's kind of beautiful world. It's not that I don't like it. It's a beautiful world.

I just kind of didn't love the story, but it's an amazing world building. It just looks beautiful, right? Oh, blue waters with people. Oh, she looks very happy to see some fishies. Oh, I hate this part though. This is like the military bit. This is not anything. Why are they holding weapons?

Oh, no, there's a war. Oh, no, she's riding some kind of water dragon. All right, he's holding hands with a whale. All right, I know you want me to hate this, but I love that. That's not why I show these. I want your general, your honest opinion. I thought beautiful. But you also hate movies that recreate the environment.

So is it because it's an alien planet you're okay with it? Could you look at like The Lion King, which also I did not like. No, I hated that movie. Where they're like recreating nature. Yes. You're like, just go outside. That's exactly right. But this, I don't know why I don't hate that.

I feel like I should hate it. You know why? Because you're right. It's exactly right. But this, I don't know why I don't hate that. I feel like I should hate it. You know why? Because you're right, it's an alien planet. Yeah. But I think the reason I do love it is because it's the theme of Avatar, which I know is really corny but I also think is really important, is that idea of our connection to the land and the earth.

And because it's an alien kind of planet, we can look at that theme like Fern Gully, which I also bloody loved. And it's that commentary, right, about and I think because it's removed, it then makes you think about our own planet. Exactly. And the beauty of our own planet because you're removed from it. It helps for some reason. I think it's a bit like you can't have two realistic looking CGI people because it just doesn't work.

It's uncanny valley, yeah. Yeah, but because it's like removed, it makes you look at things differently. I don't know. I liked that. Good. Did you want me to hate it? No, not at all. Like this is never to like get you to like, well,

it's just I want your genuine reaction to things. All right. If people enjoy this segment where I spring a trailer on Claire every week and she has to watch it and talk about it, please let us know. All right. That would be great. I feel like I didn't have any. Do you know why? Because I got totes of mosh.

They got me. A family is a fortress. Green eyes staring at each other. I loved it. I loved it. The hold hands of the whale. Yes, hold hands of the whale. Yes, hold hands of the whale. Thank God.

We're finally there. Thank God. Wow. And also because the juxtaposition of like the horrible military bullshit and I'm so sick of all of that. Can we just throw all of that into space? Into the ocean. I agree.

I just had this idea in the middle of the night and don't get me wrong, but I do think I'm a genius. I've cracked it. I've cracked out all our problems. I can't wait for this. We just have to put all of the guns, explosive, nuclear weapons, all of the pollution, the entire Great Pacific garbage patch into a giant cannon and shoot it into space.

And what happens if it doesn't make it to space? And all the human beings just have to get all the rubbish and put them in one place and then we'll shoot it into the sky in a black hole and then our planet will be fine. Yeah, great. You know there's not a black hole near Earth. Yeah, I know, but you should have far enough. They can do things.

Bloody get Elon Musk on it. He can get some kind of penile-shaped spaceship. Can we get someone good on it as opposed to Elon Musk? Yeah, but we need him distracted. He's got Twitter now, you know? I don't want to get into it. I don't want to get into that. Anyway, all I'm saying is that's but we need him distracted. He's got Twitter now, you know? I don't want to get into it. I don't want to get into that. Anyway, all I'm saying is that's all we need to do.

It's not feasible because if it does, say that rocket exploded. I'm a genius. I refuse to hear any rebuttals on how excellent my plan is. There's no profit in it, so the people wouldn't do it. Anyways, do you know what there is profit in? This podcast, if it continues to grow from its five-star reviews, which you can actually do in-app. Thank you.

This is from Suggestive Pineapple. Can you believe this review? What a sexy name, Suggestive Pineapple. Hi, I'm the spiky pineapple. This one's directed to you specifically more than me. Actually. It's titled Rage Machine. I don't know.

Having sex with a pineapple would be very uncomfortable. It's the least sexable fruit, I feel. It's very spiky. Anyway, Suggestive Pineapple says, has anyone else noticed that Claire has had more raging outbursts since doing this podcast with James? Anyway, five stars. It's interesting.

Something to think about. Yeah, it's interesting. It's almost like a woman's on the edge. She's on the edge. She's about to. She has great ideas, like putting all the fruit into space or whatever you were talking about before. All the suggestive pineapples.

Do we have any email this week? Correct, we do. Wow. Excellent. Here we go. Okay, so this is from a lovely listener who would prefer to remain anonymous, which I think, good, excellent. Is it Mason?

I'm not telling. No, it's definitely not Mason. It's a wonderful listener, though. Dear Claire and James, who is there also, I have an important message of thanks for you two. I've listened to the pod for a few years now and emailed previously about trivial pop culture things, but this time I have something important to say.

Whether or not this is on the pod, I think I need to say it. I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for talking openly, sincerely and earnestly about checking in and getting consent. I recently re-entered the dating pool after a very long-term relationship. Me too. And things. Sorry, God. Oh, good to know.

I was wondering why you had all those apps. That's why I've been out, yeah. Yeah, okay. And things have certainly changed. I was a bit terrified about how to broach the subject of making a move with a new person in a way that takes account the recent news revelations about consent, what it means and how the concept has been manipulated and misunderstood. Your frank and honest discussions on Suggested All About just asking and checking in made me

nervous at first. I thought, how awkward that must be. But I knew you were spot on. And when the time came, I just asked. It was easy and utterly worth it and everything worked out. In fact, if I didn't have your thoughts on the matter to think about it, a lovely woman might not know that I had strong feelings about her. Oh, nice. I know. I thought that was really cool. So I want to thank you as sincerely as one person can thank another

for helping to normalise a modern, healthy, positive approach to navigating intimate situations in a way that actively counters problematic behaviour. And for helping me personally because you have and you're bloody legends for it. Thanks. Very sincerely, Anonymous. Wow, thank you so much. That's wonderful.

I know, right? And I'd forgotten we talked about this because I don't remember anything. I forget everything. It's so true, right? Because I think there's this fear that it won't kind of be, it'll break the mood or something. Yeah. And in actuality just being like asking and checking in every step

of the way because you want real affirmative consent is awesome. Also it's way less embarrassing to ask and then get rejected and to move in and get rejected. It totally is. Think about how embarrassing that would be. Exactly. Exactly right. And it can actually be like a really fun and cool thing to do as well

and a really sweet thing to do too, I think. And not just do it at the beginning but keep checking in, I reckon, is the other part of it. And it just means everyone feels safe and has a good time, right? I agree. That communication stuff, so important because otherwise you're just guessing and hoping and, you know, when the whole thing – Wishing and hoping. Wishing and, wishing and waiting and when the whole thing's over, if you haven't checked in and asked, then you have no idea whether it went well or not. I think it's a continuous process of like

checking in. Do you know what I mean? I mean, through like your entire relationship. Completely. I completely agree with that as well. I think you're right. It's not just a matter of like at the very start checking in once and being like, cool, she's on board. Excellent. And it goes both ways as well, right? Oh, no, of course. Like actually asking and talking about the stuff.

I want to clarify that. Yeah, definitely. Yeah, as hard as it is and as awkward as it can be, it's absolutely the right thing to do. Thank you so much because that takes a lot of courage to write in and say that too. I agree. So I think you will approach some people.

Thank you, Mason. Really appreciate it. Poor Mason. It's not Mason. Oh will approach some people. I really appreciate it. Poor Mason. Poor Mason. But I'm sure, anyway, I don't know, it's definitely not Mason.

But maybe it is. Maybe it is. No, it's not. Anyway, thank you so much listeners and if you too would like to write in with a suggestible

for the show or a comment, please email suggestibepod at gmail.com. Yeah. That's it. Thank you as always to Royal Collings for editing this week's episode.

Oh, my God. Apologies for missing last week. But we'll never miss one again. We've just really not had some good runs. Yeah, we missed two recently, which wasn't the plan. No, but I will say this. I have been discovering more things about the effects of COVID and all of the stuff.

Yes. And I just think we all need to give ourselves some buffer room and some extra rest. But we also know that Claire's specifically talking about herself. No, but I'm just talking about everyone in general. Do you know how many people I say this to and they literally look at me like I've said something revelatory about resting more? Yeah, you're a real Jordan Peterson.

He's my hero. I'm a genius. I've had two genius ideas. You have? I have. Wow, we better get out of here before you solve all of the world's problems. Save something for next week. And you start, you know, I don't know,

pinning love hearts to your poster of Jordan Peterson that you have to throw to your bed. I'm a big fan. Along with a piece of steak because, you know, that's his favourite thing. That's his favourite thing. What a strange man. The dragon of chaos. Anyway, let's get out of here.

Okay, bye. Bye. Hi, this is Katnett Unfiltered. If you know us, then you know that we do almost everything together, so accommodating seven kids and seven adults on vacation can be challenging. So we Airbnb it. And if you have a spare room in your house, you can Airbnb it. It's that simple.

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