Suggestible - Love and Monsters

Episode Date: November 5, 2020

Suggestible things to watch, read and listen to. Hosted by James Clement @mrsundaymovies and Claire Tonti @clairetonti.Visit bigsandwich.co for bonus weekly shows, a monthly commentary, early stuff and ad free podcast feeds for $9 per month.This week’s Suggestibles:The Trial of the Chicago 7Years and YearsA Podcast of One’s Own with Julia GillardJulia’s full Misogyny SpeechAll things Hannah FryLove and MonstersWe love SnailsClaire’s Instagram @ClaireTontiJamie Oliver’s Quinoa Chicken SaladGood Bones by Maggie SmithSend 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.

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Hello. Welcome. Congratulations, everybody. We made it through the US day. What? Have we? No, we didn't. I don't know.

What time is it even in the US? Now? Yes. When people are listening to this? I don't know. People listen to it at different times. They do. It could be any time.

Well, who knows what the world will be like when we wake up tomorrow when this is released. That's right. Where we are at the moment, as of recording this, Donald Trump has declared victory. And has said that we should all just stop counting the rest of the votes. He's got a point. No. Oh, yeah, no, he doesn't. I just realised that's not usually how an election runs.

No, and I've been told that it literally can't happen. You can't do that because legally each vote counts as long as they've been processed properly. Anyhoo, welcome to Suggestible Pod. I'm Claire. James is over there. We are married and we're slightly terrified about the state of the world. Yeah, but we've been like that all year so don't even worry about it.

It's just business as usual, mate. People have been listening to this pod all year and some people just jumped on recently and have listened to the back catalogue and heard us from a year ago and were like, oh, mate, you had no idea what was coming. Because we were talking about the world being on fire last December, January when we had the terrible bushfires. Yeah, and that's coming around again. We're due for that soon.

We're headed into summer so that's going to be fun. Oh, God. But we have come out of lockdown so that's good. We have. We're back in our old studio space. There's been zero recorded cases for the last four days in Victoria. Holy moly. And I just can't believe it.

I cannot believe it. I went out for brunch. Yeah. We went and sat in a park with our friends and had a picnic. Licked ten people on the face today. He did. You were bold. Oh, but also I want to say if you are in the UK and EU

and you're going back into lockdown. Yeah, I know, right. Oh, boy, we're sending you so much love and we're sorry for boasting. We're just so happy. Oh, yeah, sorry. I didn't mean that to be a boaster. Yeah, I just mean. You did.

He's the biggest boaster. I really am. He was boasting about it before he came. I was boasting about it. No, I'm just happy because we have been in lockdown for like six months. Hold the phone. Did you just say you're happy? I didn't say anything.

All right, can I go on with my suggestion as a gentleman first? You have never said you're happy in your goddamn life. What's that? Yeah, your turn. Okay, so what I've been doing, I've just been endlessly scrolling Twitter and just kind of watching election coverage. Every time I see you. I've got like an earpiece in and you're like, you just took over me

and I'm just looking concerned doing the dishes or something, just like frowning to myself. You've got this like panic look and he's dropped his phone, like a frightened deer. You're just like walking back and forth patrolling the house. Yeah. I'm just telling you, you've got to get off there. I know, you're right.

Well, that's not really what I'm going to talk about today because I am going to talk about something. Interesting. Probably not. It's not less political. No. I'll say less political. No. I'll say this, though. My second thing is a happy thing, but the first one is The Trial of Chicago 7,

which came to Netflix a couple of weeks ago, which is written and directed by Aaron Sorkin, who people might know from The West Wing and various other things that he's done over the years, hasn't he? Social Network. They should do a sequel to The social network, don't you reckon? Like an updated version of what Facebook has become. Yeah.

Don't you reckon? Just get the cast back and just go again. Yeah, totally. I'm serious. Just get Mark Zuckerberg on the record. Yeah, what's his name? Jesse Eisenberg or whatever and get him to do it again. Oh, God.

Yeah, that'd be cool. I don't know if you've seen Mark Zuckerberg in an interview. He's so weird. He's so weird. Yeah. I don't. Yeah, there'd be cool. I don't know if you've seen like Mark Zuckerberg in an interview. He's so weird. He's so weird. Yeah, there's something. He's definitely not entirely empathetic. I would say that. Connected, I don't know.

Do you remember there was a point in time, not to get too political, but he looked like he was going to run, like he was kind of gearing up to run. Oh, gosh. Yeah, that was like a few years back. He was like visiting factories and being like, how do businesses operate? I'm here. I'm a man of the people. Oh, gosh. Yeah, that was like a few years back. It was like visiting factories and being like, how do businesses operate? I'm here. I'm a man of the people.

Oh, no. Like a daddy with your jeans and your pressed teeth. You fool. You don't look like a real person. Anyway, so it stars Yahar Abdul-Madeen II, Sacha Baron Cohen, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Frank Langella, Eddie Redmayne. It follows a group of Vietnam protesters in the 70s

who were charged with crossing individually. They did this because they were in different groups. They were crossing the road to get to the other side. But they weren't holding hands. And you have to hold hands when you cross the road. No, they were charged with crossing state lines to incite a riot. Why did the chicken cross the road? Why, Claire?

To incite a riot. Correct. That was the correct answer. Also, I did not mean to make light. I saw this film. It was very moving and full of- It was good because a lot of, to be frank, a lot of the, maybe I'll just be James, am I right?

But a lot of Netflix films are pretty average. I'd probably like you better if you were called Frank. Well, my grandpa's name was Frank, although that wasn't his real name. That's just what people called him. It's neither here nor there. That used to happen all the time back then. Yeah, well, both of my grandpas were called different things than their actual names were.

And they weren't even nicknames. They were like completely different names. Yeah. Anyway, so it's also got a lot of parallels today because it does deal with like police brutality and protesting and kind of the backlash. And look, to be fair, it's obviously more sided towards the protesters than the police. Just slightly.

But also as history indicated from this particular event in time, that is not inaccurate it turns out. Correct. Not to say that there weren't mistakes made on the protesters' side because there absolutely were. So it ends up in this court case and all these, they're called the trial of the Chicago 7 because they're all lumped together. They all came with kind of different purposes.

Some of them knew each other, some of them didn't, but they tried to put them all in and pin this violence and instigation on them during the Nixon administration. This was just after he'd got in. And it mostly sticks to kind of the – there are embellishments with certain characters. I know Sacha Baron Cohen's character isn't entirely accurate in reference to his beliefs, but it mostly sticks to the court recordings. And it is, so it's framed in a courtroom and then it flashes back to the events leading up to when

the day of the riot. And it's really this kind of pivotal moment in history, which is obviously reflected now with what we're seeing, not just in the US I feel but but but around the world and I think if you haven't watched it and you're a fan of I think Aaron Sorkin's movies or this is something that you think might be interesting uh to you it's got like great performances it's it's really gripping I've um it's got some really kind of horrific moments in it as well not just in violence but just the way certain people are treated which I won't um get into here and that's something that you kind of need to see in the movie, I feel. But I thought it was fantastic. I thought it was real and everybody in it was terrific,

particularly Frank Langella as the judge, as this kind of like doddering, racist, horrible judge. And he's also like in real life. He's not like that at all. He's very personable. Robot and Frank, you ever seen that movie? Oh, I love that movie. You ever seen He-Man, the Master Frank, you ever seen that movie? Oh, I love that movie. You ever seen He-Man, the Master of the Universe in the 80s?

He played Skeletor. Of course I haven't seen bloody He-Man wielding muscles on a horse. What does he do, He-Man? Throw things? Yeah, he's on a green tiger. Yeah, I thought he rode something. Yeah, Cringer. Cringer becomes Battle Cat.

Oh, Lord. Here we go. Let's not open that can of worms, Frank. It's been right out of my life. Cringer becomes Battle Cat. Oh, Lord. Here we go. Let's not open that can of worms, Frank. That's right. You old boot. I brought it back. It's good and you should watch it, but maybe not this week. This may not be the week to watch it.

If you're looking out for your mental health, it may not be, but it is such an important movie to watch. It also shows the regime change, the government, because there's a government change that happens. The Nixon administration comes in and how protesters, the protesters were treated differently. Under different. Under, which, you know, I think.

Yeah, leadership. We're also obviously seeing. Yeah, exactly. I mean, I think what I've been reflecting a lot on recently and what I've really absorbed when I watched it was how for so long when we were kids and teenagers, I feel like we saw kind of this level of protesting, this level of civil unrest because of the places we lived in the world as a part of history, almost in like not a black and white lens but in that kind of like greyscale kind of way where that's history

but that's not, we don't have to fight our rights. That was ages ago. Yeah, that was ages, that was a long time ago and battles were fought but now in terms of our country, it's all been won, everything's fine. Yeah. And, you know, we just took global stability and peace for granted and I think I've granted. And I think. And I think a lot of that is also an illusion.

I think it's like those things exist for some people. Yeah, exactly. Like, I mean, the majority of people in the world live under oppression. It's just that we've been living in a privileged place and we still live in a privileged place. I love it. Yeah, you would love it, Franco, Frank. Anyway, so I think it's not a comfortable thing to be coming to grips with, but I think, I don't know if you've been feeling this,

it's so heightened everything at the moment. It's like sitting through, you are, we're sitting through history that will be written down and spoken about hopefully in better times. People will be smearing it on cave walls in charcoal in three years. We've all been obliterated. We'll be living in huts, digging in the dirt, like in that BBC show Years and Years with Emma Thompson. Oh, that's another show that is excellent. We talked about before.

Do not watch it now. It feels very close to reality. Anyway, yeah, highly recommend that. Okay, my turn? Absolutely. Yeah, it's my turn. That's how this show works. We recommend your stuff.

We like to take turns. Ooh, okay. So I'm just going to not go for something, you know, terribly deep and dark. I am going for a podcast this week. What podcast? I know. This one's called A Podcast of One's Own with Julia Gillard,

who is Australia's first female Prime Minister. She herself is a really interesting character. You might know her, it kind of went viral, her misogyny speech that she did in Parliament has now become a TikTok video. It's great. And if you haven't watched it, it's awesome. Maybe Colleen's could put a little bit of it in here right now,

the little TikTok bit because it's so good. I'm Juliet Gillard and this is a viral video. All right. I will not be lectured about sexism and misogyny by this man. I will not. And the government will not be lectured about sexism and misogyny by this man. Not now, not ever. The leader of the opposition says that people who hold sexist views

and who are misogynists are not appropriate for high office. Well, I hope the leader of the opposition has got a piece of paper and he is writing out his resignation. Because if he wants to know what misogyny looks like in modern Australia, he doesn't need a motion in the House of Representatives. He needs a mirror. I'm a bitch. I'm a boss.

Anyway, it's very badassery and great. But her podcast of one's own, it's based on Virginia Woolf's quote that says that or book called A Room of One's Own to Write In. So that was her kind of feminist manifesto about women needing a room of their own to write in. And this is a podcast of one's own and it's for women in leadership basically. It explores women in leadership in all different areas. She has some really fascinating interviews. So one of my favorite podcasters, as we've talked about before, is Debra Francis-White from the Guilty Feminist podcast. And she interviews her

and Deb is just always incredible. I always say Deb like we're really good friends, but you know, we could be. Anyway. Yeah. So that's really good. that's about women and guilt and she also interviews Hillary Clinton which is a really interesting interview because they're obviously quite good friends and they've seen each other around a lot you feel like you're kind of eavesdropping in and all these really impressive people who kind of are talking to their you know friend for a long time more interviews like that I feel like a lot of the times you get like snippets in, you know, newspapers or interviews on TV and it's just like fragments and then it's like next question and it's just like go, go, go. And then people clip certain things out of it.

And I love those like sit down, have like a frank discussion. Yeah. You can really kind of delve into things and also push back, which I think is really interesting. Is really good, yeah. And Julie Gillard is quite direct. She, a lot, she's definitely the one asking the questions. So it's not really, it is conversational,

but it's conversational about the guest. So Julia Gillard doesn't really bring in her own personal anecdotes very often. Though she comes across as really warm and funny and frank. I think she could have been a great Prime Minister given the opportunity. I do, yeah, for a longer time. She was Prime Minister. No, I know. Did I say she wasn't?

Yeah, you said she – I think she could have been a good Prime Minister. Yeah, as in like if she had have kept on. Yeah, kept on. I know. It was such a tumultuous time in Australian politics if you don't know about that particular time in the street. But I think that was a mistake also to like go for the leadership as well. Like I'm not going to get into it because I think that just –

I think that's completely fucked the Labor Party for like to this day because of that. But anyway, it's neither here nor there. I think they were a good team. Like I think they were really well together. Yeah, and she particularly is so impressive. Yeah, I agree. Yeah, so her interview with Hillary Clinton is incredible

and she's just done so much outside of politics now. It's kind of liberating and Hillary Clinton is the same now. Now that they've stepped outside of politics and you get the impression they're not planning to go back in, they're free to be more of themselves I think and decide what they want to do. And Julia Gillard has done a lot. She works and heads up a team at the, I think it's the Institute for Women's Leadership in the UK and she also is the head

of Beyond Blue which is a mental health organisation in Australia. Yeah. So she's doing incredible work, particularly for women's rights. She also just wrote a book on women's leadership really recently, which was also really great. Anyway, so it might sound a bit dry. It's not. It's fascinating. So Deborah S. White, Hillary Clinton.

And one of my other favourite interviews that she did was with a woman called Hannah Fry. And this is, she's a mathematician born in Harlow, England. And if you're from the UK, you must be familiar with her because she's on so many different TV shows. She's an author, lecturer, radio and television presenter, podcaster and public speaker. And her work includes studying the patterns of human behavior, such as interpersonal relationships and dating and how mathematics can apply to them. Yeah, she's just written two really popular maths books, The Mathematics of Love, Patterns, Proofs, and The Search for the Ultimate Equation,

which explores the mathematics in the chance of finding love, the chance that it will last, how online dating works from a mathematical standpoint. So romantic. I know. When you should settle down. When should you settle down? All this kind of stuff.

Well, who knows? Can game theory help decide whether or not to call? What's game theory in relation to? Well, you know all of that stuff. You remember that book, The Game? Oh, that's what I thought. Is that actually what I was talking about? Yeah, yeah.

Is that something you can work out mathematically? So what I loved about her is she's so warm and funny and a really great communicator. So she's not the sort of person that you would typically associate with being a mathematics professor. She's also a mum as well. Is she the one who won her husband? But didn't she make like the ideal dating profile or whatever?

Yeah, she did do that. Yeah, she did a TED Talk about it. Anyway, I loved the interview with Julie Gillan. You got gamed. What? Who got gamed? He did. Oh, yeah, he did.

That's brilliant. And the other book she's written, which I think is right up your alley, old Franco booty over there, Franco booty. It's called Hello World is Here. It's a book about how we've slowly handed over control to computers, how there are algorithms and artificial intelligence hiding behind almost every aspect of our modern lives and what that means for our society. It's true. It's like when I buy something online and then for a month,

I get ads for that thing that I just bought. Correct. I know. And I like them. Yes. Well done algorithm. Yeah. You've really captured me. You've captured my imagination. But I just think, I find this whole thing fascinating because, you know, you do maths at high school and unless you go on to study maths, you know, in university, you kind of feel like maths. I think it's maths.

But go on. Study maths. No, that's Married at First Sight, mate. That's true. That was a hugely popular relative feature here where everyone was like getting married and then figuring out they hated each other, then having sex, then cheating on each other, and then ultimately imploding

on national television. Love it. I hated it. I've never seen it. It was really popular. Me neither. Everyone was very Botoxed as well. Yeah.

A lot of dark looks. You've got to get on early in the Botox because that's how you get on top of your wrinkles, isn't it? Yeah, it's too late for you. Crater face. Crater face. These are crevasses, Claire. Crevasses.

Oh, I see. They're laughter lines. Why don't you kiss my crevasses, Claire. Crevasses. Oh, I see. They're laughter lines. Why don't you kiss my crevasses? No, thanks. It's too wrinkly. I think laughter lines are a good thing. I don't have any. Mine are all frowns.

Yeah, you really do have a furrow in the centre of your head from all the frowning. Have you noticed that my face is like incredibly line-free? I know it's getting a bit more liney. But my forehead, no creases there. I also have a giant forehead so there's more room for wrinkles. Anywho. Is it my turn?

I just wanted to say you should listen to the podcast with Julie Gillard. I think we know that, Claire. You've already mentioned the podcast. All right. Don't you feel that you've covered it adequately? Hannah Fry has a lot of stories about because she was quite young We know that, Claire. You've already mentioned the podcast. All right. Don't you feel that you've covered it adequately? Hannah Fry has a lot of stories about because she was quite young and she's quite beautiful actually.

Like me. And she said something, well. Like me. Yes. Yes, Frankie Booty. Frankie. What about her? That was it.

She just had a really interesting discussion about what it's like to start off as a young woman in that industry and this kind of element of surprise, being a woman in maths and being quite young and surprising people with your knowledge has allowed her to grow and develop her career in this kind of amazing way, though she's also faced a lot of sexism as well. But she said what's interesting is the way that people have changed their opinion of her after she became a mother and that she had to go back to work six months, no, it was six weeks after giving birth just to prove that she could still do her job because there was this real kind of,

oh, but you'll not want to do any of this anymore now that you're a mother and, you know, maybe just stay at home and have a rest. Similar things as well. Yeah, exactly. There's a real vibe that, you become a mother, that's it. You won't want to continue with your career. Anyway, so I just found it fascinating. Okay, your turn.

What boring thing have you got now? Oh, no, it was happy. It was happy. Is it a song? Because you're happy, happy, lonely. So this is called. If you feel like a room without a roof. Introducing Uber Teen Accounts,

an Uber account for your teen with enhanced safety features. Your teen can request a ride with top-rated drivers, and you can track every trip on the live map in the Uber app. Uber Teen Accounts. Invite your teen to join your Uber account today. Available in select locations. See app for details. Cause I'm happy... Oh, that song.

You don't like anything. Feel like a happiness. I just don't think it's a very good song. You don't say that about, you don't like anything. No, I like lots of things. I like this movie. It's called Love and Monsters. You know what songs you like?

Sad sack songs. I do like sad sack songs. Real sad. Love and Monsters, directed by Michael Matthews. It stars Dylan O'Brien, Jessica Henwick and Michael Rooker. Is it a movie about my love of you because you're a monster? I don't think. No, it's not obviously about that, Claire. Don't you think that's something we both would have heard of

and people would have emailed the show about if that's what it was about? Claire. Look, you didn't start off as a monster, but slowly your face is caving in. It's true. I saw a photo of myself the other day and I'm like, who the fuck is that? I've done all my ageing in my 30s. If you look before that, I just looked the same. I hit 32.

I wonder what happened. Which was the age we started having kids now that I think about it. Yeah, it's really ageing, isn't it? Anywho. Anyway, so stop me if you've heard this before, but this is a post-apocalyptic film, right? Oh, Lord. But it's with a twist Mason.

Mason? Whatever your fucking name is. Oh, my God. That is not the first time that that has happened. It's not. And I've also called Mason Claire as well. At least it's only during the podcast. It would be awkward in other situations.

So, okay, what happens, right? There's a comet coming towards Earth and everyone's like, oh, no, let's shoot nuclear weapons at it. And they do and they get the comet and everyone's like, cool, that's great. What's happened from the nuclear fallout causes radiation to rain down on the earth and it radiates and what's it called when something changes into a different thing? Mutates.

Mutates a bunch of like normally benign creatures, usually cold-blooded creatures into like big monstrous versions of themselves. So there's like giant lizards, giant snails, giant ants, all these giant crabs, all these kinds of things, like tank-sized like creatures that suddenly spring up and are running the globe. And because they're basically insects, everyone has to move underground

because, you know, the insects are insects. Insects are insects. Do you know what I mean? Yeah, I see. I've always thought that if ants were giant, they would take over the planet. They also can't be giant because something to do with like the air in relation to their body. I'm not sure how that works exactly, but they're like, they're not heavy enough.

They just float away. They just float away. You'd just be like flying ants. No, there's something to do with them. It's the same with spiders. They can only get so big. Well, that's comforting. I don't know how that works.

But anyway. What about those bird eating spiders that are like the size of dinner plates? Yeah, but again, that's like as big as they get. And if you've got like a cricket bat, that's not a problem, big spider. Don't even worry about it. Anyway, so Joel. That's very specific. Who plays Dylan O'Brien, he goes underground

and he's underground in an underground bunker for about seven years. But he's also got this problem with cowardice because he has PTSD from the events that unfolded, which ended up him in this underground bunker. Being eaten by Goliath's bird-eater spider tarantula family that's found in northern South America. Yes, yes, yes, yes. Anyway. Anyway, he then gets in contact with his old girlfriend, played by Jessica Henwick, on the radio, and he decides to go above ground and go cross-country to find her, right?

So that's why it's love and monsters, right? So he sets off but he's a coward. He doesn't know how to deal with anything and now there's monsters out. And also because everybody lives underground, nobody knows. These aren't documented. So he's kind of documenting the monsters as he goes, what they come across, their strengths, their weaknesses, kind of how to avoid them and whatever.

But it's got and, you know, he meets people along the way and all these kinds of things. It's kind of a bit like Zombieland. Have you ever seen Zombieland? It's got that kind of feel in terms of like the rules. Do you think I would have seen Zombieland? I've never seen Zombieland. It's a comedy.

It's a zombie comedy. Nah. I'm not into it. But it's got really great creature designs. Like they'll take like a snail and then they'll like big it up and like mutate it and make its eyes like really cool and stuff like that. Okay, I like that.

You should watch it. You know how much I love snails. There are so many today. It's got really great creature designs and effects as well. It's a beautiful looking film because it's also shot in Australia. It's shot in like the bush. So I'm like, I'm watching, I'm like, this is Australia. I'm pretty confident this is Australia.

I looked it up and I'm like, it was Australia. I knew it. I loved Australia. I'm pretty confident this is Australia. I looked it up and I'm like, it was Australia. I knew it. I loved it. It was really fun. It's on, you can hire it off, rent it off of YouTube or whatever. So, yeah, you should watch it. It's really cool. Yeah, I actually want to watch that.

It's fun. And it's not super, super violent either. Like people get killed and stuff, but it's not like, it's not gory. It's just like, it's more kind of, I don't know, like you've ever seen like a giant creature movie before? Yeah. Yeah, so it's like that, I guess. Yeah. Cool.

Is it a little bit like Honey, I Shrunk the Kids? A little bit, yeah. It's a little bit like the movie Eight-Legged Freaks. Did you ever see that about the giant spiders that take over the town? No. Is it like the giant spiders in Harry Potter? A little bit. I don't think there's any spiders in it.

Anyway, it's great. You should watch it. Or there's giant creatures in giant spider in The Hobbit in Lord of the Rings. That's true. There is. Sheelob or something. Oh, what a cool name. Or maybe a Disney game.

All right. Is it my turn, my turn, my turn, my turn? I think it's your turn, your turn, your turn. It is my turn. You've been banging on for too long at your post-apocalyptic things. Thank you. All right. I have a few things.

I have a little smattering. You know how I like to do that sometimes? Just sprinkling. This is like a tasting plate when you go to a- A tasting plate, a little bouquet. Yes, a tasting platter, if you will. Okay. First up, BBC Murder Mystery series that I won't talk about for very long

because I always watch these. However, you also always recommend post-apocalyptic things. Yeah, but mine are good. Yours are like the same thing. All right, so this one is, it's not amazing, but if you like murder mystery series, Nicola Walker plays a detective and she is just brilliant. She was in The Split and I've just become kind of obsessed

with finding things with her in it because I really like her. I think she's like quite an intriguing, great actress. It's also got Sanjeev Bhaskar in it as well. He's from the Kumars. He is. And they are like the detective team together exploring these murders. There's three seasons and it's just exactly what it says on the tin. It's called Unforgotten and they explore cold cases and, you know,

dig them up and it's just, you know, kind of gloomy. Yeah, they're gloomy, kind of terrible cases and And they kind of, there's one case per season. And I just really enjoyed it. And it was kind of, you know, there's some heartwarming parts in it, some comedy. Sounds absolutely fine. Mostly just a murder mystery. Yeah, correct.

That's my first smattering. The next thing I've got is Jamie Oliver. I don't know why I sung like that. Jamie Oliver's King Wine Chicken Salad from his Recipe Book 15 minute, 15 minute meals. It's just really good. I made it. Remember?

15 minutes, my ass. We had a date night. Made through an expert chef, Jamie Oliver. Oh, whatevs. Remember we had a date night a few like years ago it feels like. I think it was two weeks ago. And I made that chicken quinoa mango avocado feta salad thing. No, it wasn't me.

Sorry. What? You said to me it was like the best meal you'd had in ages. I don't know. Sorry. I don't know what you're talking about. Bloody. Just tell the people that it was delicious.

You must have been on a date with somebody else in lockdown. I don't know. And I made it with black rice as well. Yeah, but maybe. And rocket. It was so delish. Must have been. God.

No, it was really good. It was really good. Anyway, so I recommend that as well. I really like his 15-minute meal book. They should call them 42-minute meals. Yeah, they're not 15 minutes. They're a long time. And they're only 15 minutes if you're Jamie Oliver

and have all the contraptions in your kitchen under the sun. That's true. And no screaming kids around you asking for things. Anyway, that was delicious. And the other thing I made today was a lemon olive oil cake, which I got from Annabelle Crabbe, but it's just delicious. It's three zested lemons. And to deal with my election anxiety, I've just been zesting

and juicing all the lemons on our lemon tree. I came out this morning and there was just 100 lemons squeezed on the table. I'm like, okay. I don't want nothing to do with this. What else are we going to do with them? I'm freezing them. You will thank me later when we've got zest and juice. We throw them in passing cars.

I thought that's what we decided. Anyway, this lemon olive oil cake is kind of a revelation. It's just three zest lemons, three eggs, flour, milk, and you just kind of whip it all up together. Can you put them in any order in any quantities? No, you have to scrunch the sugar into the zest and then you have to whip the eggs. How much zest? 300 grams of sugar, 300 grams of self-raising flour.

So you scrunch three eggs. How much zest? Oh, three lemons worth of zest. How big are the lemons? It's three, three, three, and three, mate. That's the genius of this recipe. Okay. It's all about the three things.

It's good. All right. Three lemons zested. Put the three eggs in. You didn It's all about the three things. It's good. All right. Three lemon zested. Put the three eggs in. You didn't even care about this. You were just asking me to talk. I'm all over it. I love this.

You're letting me walk into my own whatever. Anyway, so that's my smattering. Is the recipe on your Instagram? Yes, correct. I'm putting it on my Instagram with me baking it because I was stress baking today as well. What is your Instagram? Where could people find you?

At Claire Tontu. No, at Claire Tonti. At the old boot. No, at Claire Tonti. Yes, correct. And my last little tasting platter, chef's kiss. Delicious. Is a poet called Maggie Smith.

Not the Maggie Smith that you might be thinking of, the actress. That's who I was thinking of. Well, no, she's a poet, American poet. She lives in Ohio and one of her most famous poems is a poem called Good Bones which Glennon Doyle shared today on her Instagram and I've read before and it really hits you in like a real place. Are you going to read it? How long is it?

Can I read it? It's not very long. How long is it? It's like, I don't know, 20 lines. Okay. If it's bad at the end, I'm going to say poetry, more like poetry. So just be aware of that. Go on.

You'll like it. It's gloomy. All right. Good Bones by Maggie Smith. Life is short, though I keep this from my children. Life is short and I've shortened mine in a thousand delicious, ill-advised ways. A thousand thousand delicious ill-advised ways. A thousand deliciously ill-advised ways I'll keep from my children.

The world is at least 50% terrible and that's a conservative estimate. Though I keep this from my children. For every bird there is a stone thrown at a bird. For every loved child, a child broken, bagged, sunk in a lake. Life is short and the world is at least half terrible. And for every kind stranger, there is one who would break you, though I keep this from my children. I'm trying to sell them the world.

Any decent realtor walking you through a real shithole chirps on about good bones. This place could be beautiful, right? You could make this place beautiful. It's pretty deep, but I will say this, poetry. I like poetry. I really like that. That was actually really good. I thought you would.

You got me, Claire. I could tell. You got me. That's really great. It is. And accurate. I'm like, yeah, I have like the things that I've done to like ruin my life. I'm like I would never tell our kids that or mention it on this show.

But, yeah, just the idea that like because I have that thing of like I'm very wary of strangers and I'm like very untrusting of people, which is probably not a good place to be because I think most people are trying their best and whatever. But, yeah, I do have that thing of like I don't trust anybody. Yeah. That sounds really terrible. No, it's funny. I think this poem reminded me of the dual sides of us

because I'm the opposite. I'm too trusting, I think, and I do often get surprised when people are not kind. Yeah. Which makes me sound naive. And I'm like, yeah. Yeah, and you're like, of course. They're terrible.

When people are nice, I'm like, he was nice. What was that? Yeah, and you can't handle it. So I think in some ways that's why we work because I am like often the optimist and you're often the pessimist. But I just thought, gosh, we could make this place beautiful. We definitely could. But it's also not.

We just need to kill 50% of the population. That's what I got from that. How do you do it? Is there like a test? Nah, someone rigged a test. I'll have to think about it. I'll come back next week. No, I feel like that's the beginnings of communism, is it?

That's not communism. That's just genocide. Yeah, yeah, just straight up. Anyway, that poem weirdly has given me comfort in a strange way. Really? Because I had the opposite. Because I think there's only so much you can, like, protect your kids from, you know what I mean?

It gets to a point where you just want to, like, hold my son and grab him by the shoulders and be like, you've got to be really careful all the time. Nobody knows what they're doing. Like I'll look out for you but I'm going to die one day. So you need to be careful. You need to know how to run from the zombie apocalypse. No, I think why it makes me feel comforted is that I genuinely do feel

like the world has good bones. You know that line? I agree with that. And I think also 50% is pretty good. That's like the odds. Like if that was a casino game, which I guess it sort of is with roulette, there's different, not really because it's black and red and there's double zeros.

It's not the end of the day. But there, that's a coin flip. It's pretty good odds. Yeah, and I think also the acknowledgement that the world isn't perfect and that things are terrible. I think sometimes we have to walk around pretending like when things go wrong, oh no, it's a shock. It's a surprise or why did it happen to me? But I think the acknowledgement that actually the world is just 50% terrible and terrible things happen to good people and great things happen to terrible people and vice versa.

And you just have to, like what I always go back to what Pat Nozzle says about it's chaos behind. You know, there is something really freeing about acknowledging that fact and then having hope despite it. Yeah. You know, being like, yes, there's good stuff here. It's an incredible place, this world and this planet we live on. Someone on a bad day or they take a turn at a certain point in time.

Yeah. It's complicated. It is complicated. Yeah. Anyway, so that's Good Bones by Maggie Smith and I encourage you to have a look at some of our other poetry too. Yeah, but all that's poetry. It's just that one's good, I feel.

Is that the show? Yes. All right, reviewer time. I love reading reviews because the reviews are strictly non-political and that's what I'm about. Like this one from Antron Legacy says, surprisingly knowledgeable. These two know more about American politics than any of my family members. It's refreshing to hear a take where they can acknowledge

that both candidates are problematic but draw the line on human indecency. Yeah, I know. I'm like, oh, Joe Biden, really? Okay, I guess. Sad for 2020 that a presidential candidate refuses on multiple chances to denounce white supremacy and a vast portion of the population will still vote for him. Try harder, America.

The world is laughing. Some are even crying. I wouldn't even say the world. I don't think the world is laughing. No, I think the world is terrified. I think it's also like it's sad. It's like this is a, when I grew up and it probably wasn't accurate but it was a place that you'd look to.

It was like a beacon of hope. We felt protected and safe. There were still terrible things going on. Yeah, totally. Yeah, but it was and it's just I don't know whether that, maybe that's never been true and this is just making that more evident but I think things have obviously, and it's just the divide just seems maybe it's just the divide i'm talking about it's crazy everyone's in and it's the media's fault claire i strongly believe

that do you really yes all right uh well not helping at least yeah i mean i think social media all of it yeah the whole thing anyway you've got some great letters, don't you? I do. You're yelling at us, guys. Let me try and reign it back in. All right, I think I might end on the fun one. And I'll talk about this one I just got today. So this one is an email from a lovely person called Austin.

And I just wanted to read you it. Austin is a great name. It's such a good name, isn't it? It's such a good name, isn't it? It's such a good name, Austin. We could have considered that. We could have. Good for names.

So Austin wrote to us today and the title of his email was Election Night Thoughts from a Lost American. I know. Here we go. So you can write to the pod at suggestiblepod at gmail.com. Hey, Claire and James, been a fan for a long time. Don't think I've ever sent an email before. I'm a pilgrim from James' Less Successful podcast who migrated over at the beginning of the pandemic to Suggestible.

I usually listen while I work in my garden. Nice. I know. It's your jam. It's my jam, I know. I like you a lot, Austin. It's currently 11.43 p.m. on Election Day and I'm watching the TV about three-quarters of the way through a bottle of red wine, Austin. It's currently 11.43pm on election day and I'm watching the TV

about three quarters of the way through a bottle of red wine and man after my own heart. I'm starting to feel a lot of the same sense of deja vu that I felt in 2016 when Hillary Clinton lost. I don't know if Joe Biden is going to win or lose, but the fact that it is this close is frankly a little embarrassing to me as an American. 2016 was my first election. I supported Bernie Sanders in the primary and I again did so in 2020 because I thought he represented the best of the America I'd seen growing up. Decency, empathy, grit, badassery and a take no shit attitude. Both times when Bernie did not prevail, I was disappointed, but I bit the bullet and voted against Trump. I know how history will view him. I know how the world views him.

It makes me embarrassed of my country, of what it's become. I can only speak for myself in this, and I'm one of millions of Americans. But Donald Trump does not represent the best of this country. He represents our worst sins and our worst instincts. I agree. While I'm only one American, I'm sorry for the things I see my country doing doing and I'm reaching out to the pod to express my feelings to the international community that is suggestible. Yours in the struggle, Austin. That's a good email. Yeah, it is. It's a really good email.

I mean, if you don't agree with him, you'd think that was a terrible email. Yeah, you would. I thought I might just read my reply. Yeah, absolutely. I'm doing a lot of reading on this pod today. What are you, a book? I know, it must be. Hello, my name is Claire.

You're an old boot and I'm a book. I don't it must be. Hello, my name is Claire. You're an old boot and I'm a book. I don't know. It's a terrible joke. It's late. Okay. Dear Austin, mate, I'm so sorry. It's such a difficult and bewildering time for us two. You know, you didn't have to write back to him. You could have just said this to him and it doesn't matter. Anyway, sorry, go on. Yeah, well, sometimes someone like people, I care about the world. I'm the 50% of the good people here, mate. I don't know where you, what side you stand on. Anyway, it's obvious to me that America has so many wonderful, kind and caring people like yourself and that Trump does not represent everyone.

We are sending you all the love we can from over here. I followed Glennon Doyle and she told a story today about a man called AJ Must who held a lit candle every day outside the White House for the entire Vietnam War. When asked about it, he said he was not doing it to change his country as he was only one person, but he lit his candle so that his country would not change him. I think that's all we can do. Hold the course, light the candle, tell our stories, love our neighbours and tell some bloody good jokes to get through and get in the garden. Life still goes on. Oprah says,

and we rise. I keep saying that to myself each day, and we rise. Keep safe, mate. And I know we're thinking of you and your country today, Claire. You read that? Yes, I did. Probably could have done with a proofread. No, it was good. Far out. Anyway, I just wanted to send that out there to anyone if someone needs to hear that because I needed to hear it from Claire. I really like that story.

Anyway, we're thinking of everybody. And last but not least, we're going to finish on a high note because we also got this beautiful email from Sarah James. If you want to finish on a high note, I've got something. Oh, God, just going to. What do you get? Yes. That might have been the best joke you've made in that.

How long have we been doing this podcast? What, bloody years? I don't know. Oh, God have we been doing this podcast? More bloody years? I don't know. Oh, God. We've really landed there, haven't we? Goodness gracious. Okay. So Sarah James also wrote in and she has recommended a few really awesome things

as well as a video of her three-year-old telling his dad he's a silly old boot. Love it. It's so cute. He's so sweet. When you showed me, I thought you were showing me one of our son's friends from kinder who'd picked up on this thing and was like, and now we're in trouble, that we'd spread this like insult. Yeah, he looked really.

Oh, no. And that is because I thought I was showing you something to cheer you up and you were like, oh, that's what we say. Oh, no. We're in trouble. Am I in trouble with our SATS kinder teacher? Anyway, I loved it. Yeah.

So Collings is going to put in a clip. Yeah, right now. Thank you for cooking dinner. Daddy, you see. That's it. That's the show. We've been to Jessable Pod. Stay safe.

Stay safe out there, pals. And if you can't, end on a high note. Very good. See you next week. I was slightly off key, mate. I wasn't. You're always off. Just a little.

No, it was good. Let's go. I got work to do. This podcast is part of the Planet Broadcasting Network. Visit planetbroadcasting.com for more podcasts from our great mates. I mean, if you want. It's up to you. We can wait for clean water solutions.

Or we can engineer access to clean water. We can acknowledge Indigenous cultures. Or we can learn from Indigenous voices. We can demand more from the earth. Or we can demand more from ourselves. At York University, we work together to create positive change for a better tomorrow. Join us at yorku.ca slash write the future.