Suggestible - Moxie

Episode Date: March 18, 2021

Suggestible things to watch, read and listen to. Hosted by James Clement @mrsundaymovies and Claire Tonti @clairetonti.Check out Claire’s brand new weekly newsletter – tontsnewsletterThis week’s Suggestibles:MoxieRiot Grrrl MovementPieces of a Woman (11:30 - 25:30)The DepartureSuperstoreThe Beast: Riding the Rails and Dodging NarcosSend 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.

It's hockey season, and you can get anything you need delivered with Uber Eats. Well, almost, almost anything. So, no, you can't get an ice rink on Uber Eats. But iced tea, ice cream, or just plain old ice? Yes, we deliver those. Gold tenders, no. But chicken tenders, yes. Because those are groceries, and we deliver those, too.

Along with your favorite restaurant food, alcohol, and other everyday essentials. Order Uber Eats now. For alcohol, you must be legal drinking age. Please enjoy responsibly. Order Uber Eats now. For alcohol, you must be legal drinking age. Please enjoy responsibly. Product availability varies by region. See app for details. Just a heads up, this episode again deals with some very intense themes, particularly around pregnancy loss and miscarriage and stillbirth. So if you find this difficult, Collings will put the time codes below so you can skip over it. All right. On with the show. Let's have a great show, Claire. We already did it. Let's

let everybody listen to our great show. All right. Well, well, well, well, well. Well, well, well, well. If it isn't another podcast. It's another podcast, a suggestible podcast. That's the podcast. We're on the podcast. Do you consider this a beautiful day for podcasting? I thought you were going to say, do I consider this a beautiful podcast? Do you? And my answer is, yeah. Can a podcast be considered beautiful?

Yeah, well, this is a thing because it's an audio medium. I think beautiful is not only visual. Yeah, that's what I'm saying. James, beauty is not only skin deep. That's what I'm saying. I was saying that. Don't turn this on me. All right. Don't imply if somebody cannot. James, beauty is not only skin deep. That's what I'm saying. I was saying that. Don't turn this on me. All right.

Don't imply if somebody cannot see something it is not beautiful. Well, I can see you. Do you not consider the wind a beautiful thing? You know I do. Do you not consider a rainbow when you've got your eyes shut a beautiful thing? What do you mean? You're confusing me. I see rainbows with my own eyeballs.

You know what song I love? What's that? Red and yellow and pink and green. That song straight up sucks. Purple and orange and blue. I can see a rainbow. That's a really good song. No, it's not. Anyway, enough diddle, daddle, fiddle, faddle. Thank God. Enough chippity, choppity, lippity, loppity. Good. Enough squiggity, wiggity. This is Just For Podcast. My name is Claire. James is here also. We are married and we recommend you things to watch, read and listen to.

That's right. And if there's even a hint of a song, Claire will sing that song, sometimes in its entirety. So just be aware of that going forward. If life could be a musical, it would be an absolute hell. Shaboom, shaboom. Oh, if life could be a dream. Not even the same song.

Like it wasn't even close. I sometimes people have said that I remind them of a Sesame Street character. Because you're a fucking Muppet. Wow. Ouch. That hurt my feelings. If you weren't so grey, I would feel sorry for myself. But I don't think you have anything to be saying to anybody, Mr Grey Man.

You're probably right. You told me yesterday that you went to the gym and you worked out and the trainer filmed you. Yeah, which I do not care for, quite frankly. No. And then what happened? Then you said, oh, no, I look like some. I just thought I looked like some old guy.

And he goes, no, it's inspirational. It's like I'm some fucking. Which I know is like supposed to be a couple of. But it's like, which also 50 is not that old. But just like, no, even someone like you could do it. But let's flip it around. On the positive, you lifted a really, really, really heavy thing. I certainly did.

And it was really, really, really impressive. It was very heavy. Correct. And as a result, I'm more muscular than ever somehow. Somehow. Who knows? And I have to comment on it every day. Every day.

Every goddamn day. Every goddamn day because you are beautiful. Even if you can't see me. And full circle, maybe not like this podcast. That's right. Who knows? Should we do our first recommendations? We absolutely should.

Do you want to kick us off? Yeah, I would love to. And I asked you to watch this and you didn't watch it. Now I'm the man. To be fair, though, I only didn't watch it because I didn't want to. No, I didn't have time. Like, because I had a bunch of other stuff. I was going to watch it last night, but then I had to watch Peter Jackson's King Kong,

which I don't know if you've ever seen that movie. I see. It goes for seven fucking hours. Great. Excellent. And then I got a Falcon and the've ever seen that movie. I see. It goes for seven fucking hours. Great. Excellent. And then I got a Falcon and the Winter Soldier review that I got. Yes, yes. You're a very busy man.

It's coming up Friday morning. Anyway, I was watching this and you left the room because you really liked it and you were like, I don't want to spoil it because there's nothing worse than like watching something from the centre and like snippets and then you kind of know what is going on and then it ruins it for you. And this movie, oh, my goodness, I loved it. It's called Moxie. It's on Netflix.

It's directed by Amy Pooler from Saturday Night Live and also Leslie Knope from Parks and Rec and just an all-round amazing chickity, chickity chick. I don't know. My brain just short-circuited. No, no, that's right. It's produced by Kim Lessing, Morgan Sackett and Amy Pooler, so produced by her as well.

The screenplay is by Tamara Chesner and Dylan Mayer and it's based on a book of the same name, Moxie, by Jennifer Matthew. Right, okay. Right, yeah. So it's based on a book. I just loved it. It was fresh. It was funny.

It is based around the central character, Vivian, who is played by Hadley Robinson, who I hadn't seen in anything else and she is brilliant. She's a high school student. Amy Pooler plays Lisa, her mum, who is a busy working mum and was in her youth a very strided feminist, taking down the patriarchy. I'm taking it down. I've had enough of it.

I'm bringing it to the ground. So really it's a little bit of a rom-com. It's got a lot of kind of feminist themes through it, a lot of intersectional feminism so it's very representative. It's got a really great diverse cast. Her best friend is played by Lauren Tsai. Claudia is her best friend. And between the two of them they're kind of these really funny,

quirky, nerdy girls in high school and I feel like the high school depiction, as much as it has, you know, all the different kind of, you know, the jocks and the cheerleaders and all the things. Well, that's high school, baby. That was my school. That's high school, you know, the skaters and all the things. As much as it does that.

And rollerbladers. All right. Yeah, there were rollerbladers. So, you know, in some ways it walks like a very familiar line of a high school film. Sure. But the way that the dialogue works is so funny and so, what am I trying to say?

It just does a really good job of using the high school as like a microcosm for the wider world and the misogyny that's kind of present as an undercurrent in the school. Right, right. And that is what is so great about it because you can watch it with your teenager or, you know, your tween daughter or son and it's really fun. There's also a lot of kind of like there's a romance that goes on.

Oh, my God. There's a character called Seth. He's played by Nico Haraja and he's really great. He was this like little kid who like over the summer just shot up really tall. And so Vivian and Seth kind of have this romance and he is a really great character because he plays an ally. So he's this kind of very, in inverted commas, woke kid who's really supportive of Vivian.

She's really quiet. And then a new girl comes into the classroom who's a really sort of outspoken feminist who takes it to this big jock who is kind of like the captain of the football team and clearly very sexist and kind of talks over all the women in the class. And he's not used to this sort of strong woman or, you know, young woman being in the class. And then he ends up bullying her and the teacher has kind of let it happen and the principal kind of is on the catch on the football team's side. And so slowly it starts to unpick why it is that, like,

the football team that's been losing for the whole year is celebrated while the girls' football team, who wins every game they play, doesn't get a mention. Yeah, absolutely. You know, and all the money is pumped into this male football team. So anyway, there's lots of themes running through it. But Amy Pooler is just great. And the relationship between her and Vivian is so wonderful. It just reminds me of how I want to parent a teenager because she manages

to walk the line between – because she's a very busy man. I think she might be a medical professional. You're not dry enough, Claire. You're too much of a rainbow of a human being. There you go. Yeah, well, lucky we've got Mr. Dry Dry as a dry piece of toast over there to parent as my co-pilot. No, so Amy plays it so well because it's really she's able

to kind of have a friendship with her daughter, kind of take her down a few pegs and not being mean but just kind of she manages to parent her really directly and give her really great honest advice while also kind of understanding that she's a teenager and she's going to be a bit sassy. So they've got this really great kind of relationship and I think that's really beautiful. It's just my favourite Amy Poehler movie she's ever been in.

She's been in a bunch of bloody good movies, mate. And I just really loved it. There's a really beautiful arc. I won't spoil it. One thing that I also really loved, the soundtrack is awesome and there's a song called Bikini Kill Rebel Girls, which is like a raucous anthem that the central character Vivian listens to that inspires her to create a zine that then she kind of secretly puts around the school anonymously.

And that kind of starts a feminist movement within the school of all these girls sort of rising up. And so then I sort of fell down a rabbit hole learning about the Riot Grrrl movement of the early 1990s, of which Bikini Kill Rebel Girls was a part of and it was kind of like an answer to the punk rock movement at the time because at that time punk was not very welcoming for women. In fact, it had some really dark themes towards women. And so Riot Grrrl became this movement in reaction to that

and it's just kind of joyful and really feminine but in a really kind of angry girl out there kind of great way. That song particularly gives you a really great aesthetic and understanding of it. Kathleen Hanna is the lead singer of the band and I've also got a video that I'll link in the show notes I put in my newsletter actually this week. Oh, very good. I talk about this in my newsletter so you can find that I'll link in the show notes I put in my newsletter actually this week. Oh, very good. I talk about this in my newsletter.

So you can find that in the link in the show notes too. It comes out every Friday morning. Yes. I know you said favourite movie. I'm just going to name some other Amy Poehler movies and you tell me if you think it's better than all these movies. Deuce Bigelow, Male Gigolo, she's in that. It's better than that.

Okay, what about this? Mean Girls. Oh, that is such a good one. I got you. No, I think it's better than that. Okay, what about this? Mean Girls. Ooh, oh, that is such a good one. Oh, I got you. No, I think it's better than Mean Girls. Wow, Mean Girls is a classic. I know. What about this?

Shrek the Third. No, wasn't bad at that one. Wasn't good, was it? What about this? Alvin and the Chipmunks, The Squeakquel. Well, that, yeah, it's a really tough one. That's a contender. What about this?

Inside Out. No, better than Inside Out. Sisters. Better than Sisters. Sisters was good. I really liked Sisters. You saw Wine Country, didn't you? I did and the other thing is Wine Country I enjoyed.

It wasn't brilliant but I enjoyed it. I thought it was fun. I think we talked about it on this. Yeah, we did and, you know, Brene Brown was in it and woohoo, I love her. Yeah. So, look, Wine Country was good. And to be fair, Amy Puller isn't even a central character in this but she's the director and has had a big hand in it.

Yeah, absolutely, yeah. I just think it's really heartwarming and empowering for women. They're doing some good. The one thing that Netflix does is it does comedy reasonably. I mean there's some terrible comedies on there as well but it does, it's bringing back the kind of the rom-com and the teen kind of. Yeah. Teen comedy, high school comedy which could disappear for a while

because they all end up being the same. Yeah. And this I think is really different because it does manage to say some really great stuff and be really intersectional so be really welcoming. There you go. With lots of exploration of sexuality too and all that stuff.

And an undercurrent doesn't hit you over the head with it but it's just it says a lot. Yeah. Yeah, and I won't spoil it but it does kind of uncover some really dark themes as well. Yeah, right, okay. So it's, yeah, it walks that line. Very good.

I really enjoyed it. Speaking of dark themes, are you familiar with Pieces of a Woman? No. I'm not going to be able to say this guy's name, so I'm going to say his first name, which I'll say wrong, and then I'm going to spell his last name because I looked up multiple pronunciations and they're all nonsense. They're all different and I couldn't pronounce any of them anyway.

It's Cornell, M-U-N-D-R-U-C-Z-O. He directed this movie with a screenplay by Carter Weber and it stars Vanessa Kirby, who you might know from things. She's in some of the Mission Impossible movies and maybe Hobbs and Shaw, but in better things as well. Shia LaBeouf, who is a good actor but terrible person. And also sweated his way through that video where all the celebrities are on during lockdown

and they did that cast reading. Did you see that? I have no idea. With Rachel, not Rachel from Friends, Jennifer Aniston. Which movie? Brad Pitt was in it. Don't you remember? During lockdown last year, all these like Sean Penn.

No, I remember. What was the movie though? Julia Roberts. I can't remember. It was a really old movie. It was like an 80s comedy or something. Yeah, yeah, and everyone, the internet went bonkers because Jennifer Aniston and Brad Pitt have to do like a sexy scene in it.

Oh, my goodness. It's just a read-through and they're all on Zoom. But the whole time Shia LaBeouf or LaBouf is just sweating it in a car with like a towel over his head and everyone's just like obviously so used to like celebrities being really high and doing weird things that they just like totally ignore him while all of these other people, like I think even who was also on it? Anyway, a lot of massive celebrities.

Look, I'll tell you this much. The last thing I want to see in fucking lockdown is a celebrity on a fucking Zoom call. It's the last thing I want to say in the world. No, but it was like a table read and it was actually really funny. I could just watch that movie. Anyway, Alan Bernstein as well. Anyway, so it opens with this amazing.

Morgan Freeman was there as well. Great. I hope he was sweating in a cartoon. So it opens with a one-shot, like maybe 15-minute sequence of a home birth, right, 15, 20 minutes maybe even, where so they call their midwife, this is Vanessa Kirby and Shia LaBeouf, the midwife that they normally were going to get and they went through all the proper protocols and training

with her, whatever, she can't come, so they get a fill-in and so what it does, it just follows, – this is going to be a slight spoiler, but it's kind of the crux of the whole – it's a pretty big spoiler, but it's the crux of the whole movie and I have to kind of like – and it's in the first 20 minutes. But anyway, after this home – the home birth results in the death of the baby. Like the baby comes out, everything seems fine, and then the baby passes away.

And you see all of this. It's also a real baby that they use. They like actually like pass like a fresh baby from off screen to to put it in it's great like it's this crazy shot that they did they filmed it six times over over two days four on the first day and two on the second they end up taking i think the fourth take or something like that it's this thing that it's really beautifully choreographed and it moves to this real house where it goes from like the bedroom to the bath and like all these other places and follows different characters around when they call the ambulance as well people running indoors and

outdoors is incredible anyway the baby passes away so the rest of the movie deals with the fallout from that so some for some people it's like you know that like they'll they completely shut down you know which is fair enough because you know you this horrible thing happens to you other people turns to substance abuse it deals with like the little things like you've now got a van, like a family van, and then it's like you don't need this so you've got to kind of get rid of it, you know what I mean? And just like the little things that you wouldn't have to think that you'd have to like deal with, do you know what I mean,

when something like this happens? And it kind of culminates in a trial with this midwife who's being blamed like very publicly for this thing that happened that may or may not have been like her fault. And the way that it's framed from the beginning, it doesn't cut. The reason they didn't cut was because then you can kind of make up your own mind of what you saw as it unfolded. So it's not like it cuts away and you miss something or you're like,

oh, what could have happened here when it was focusing on this person? You have all the information, you know what I mean? So it's kind of not really clear about what happens you know what happens it's kind of up to you and it's about like finding peace or even like coming to terms with the tragedy and like moving on like even if you can't it's an amazing movie it's it's brutal it's like a really really tough watch but it's uh yeah if you can hack it, which I would say don't to a lot of people because it's brutal but it's amazing. It's a really amazing movie, yeah.

When did it come out? I think it came out in 2020 but I watched it earlier this year. I put it on my list and I've been, I've got a list of things but I've been putting it off because I'm like this is a really difficult thing to like talk about and I don't, even though like it is amazing, like I didn't really want to relive it, you know what I mean? Yeah. Because it's pretty, and I'll never, even though like it is amazing, like I didn't really want to relive it, do you know what I mean? Yeah. Because it's pretty, and I'll never watch it again, ever.

Yeah, I wouldn't be able to watch that. I just couldn't watch it. I couldn't do it. But it is an incredible like piece of filmmaking. It really is, yeah. Well, I think that pregnancy loss and miscarriage is something that is very difficult to talk about and very difficult to bring up and then stillbirth and infant mortality even more so.

But it also is such a lived experience of women and men, couples, who are having kids like at this time in our lives. And I think I remember because I've had a miscarriage and when it happened to me me I was just so shocked. I just felt like it couldn't happen to me for some reason. I just was so sure that it just hadn't occurred to me that it could happen, which I know sounds crazy because now I know one in three pregnancies end in miscarriage and it's actually a normal and very devastating but natural process

of having babies which doesn't make it any less devastating. But I do think it's such a difficult topic to talk about and some women share and some women don't share and I also think it's really hard. I wonder if blokes really ever talk about it. Look, I mean, I know people who it's happened to, like friends of mine or whatever, but it's not really something I've really spoken to with anybody about, to be honest.

Yeah. Yeah, and I think that would be an interesting thing to think about too, that often women barely speak about it. So I can't even imagine what it's like to be a bloke on the other side of that and how your friends would deal with that and how you would deal with it in your own head and whether it's different for you and obviously it is different in lots of ways. Yeah.

It's not like for one there's no physical toll on us in the way that it is. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So. Of many things. That's one of the, you know, one of the differences. And that would be, so a film like that I just, I wouldn't be able to cope with.

But I do think it's incredible that it was made. Yeah. Because I think it obviously speaks to the lived experience of people. Yeah. And I think the more that we can share about the most difficult and traumatic things that happen to us, the more we can begin to understand and process it ourselves. Yeah. And I think there's that saying that there is going to be someone's experience

that matches the shape of your words. And I think that if you've experienced miscarriage or loss of a child, I mean, and they're not the same things, but, you know, anything in that realm, having someone else understand you or hear about someone else's experience so you know that you're not the only person that it's happened to can help. But that can also be immensely triggering too. Yeah.

I probably should have mentioned that at the top. Actually, maybe we can put in a warning. Yeah, I'll do a trigger warning at the start, at the end of this episode. Anyway. Anyway, sorry to just drop that on everybody. Yeah, that was huge. Yeah. Well, it is for me, I think.

Yeah. body. Yeah, that was huge. Well, it is for me, I think. And I think, yeah, I just think having kids and having babies is such a vulnerable and scary and amazing time, but there's so much that can go wrong along the way. Things that are way out of your control as well, you know. Yeah, and that's the other part of it, exactly right, that things are just, it's just not in your control how all of that happens. Yeah. And birth, even birth and the way that birth happens for different women, for some women it's highly traumatic and for other women it's an empowering experience and it's all very dependent.

And I think that's the thing with home births too, that there's a real sort of worry about home births, about having them at home because of the risks. But then the flip side of that is in hospitals, when women give birth in hospitals, sometimes the care cannot be up to scratch as well and it can be a really clinical environment, a really scary environment too.

I mean, obviously also for me me I gave birth in a hospital and I think that was what I wanted to do with an obstetrician. And I was talking about this recently because I noticed that I was speaking to my mum about it who's a GP and she was saying that anecdotally they've noticed a lot more women are experiencing birth trauma than they used to and they're trying to understand why and there's research now being done as to why that is. And I think one of the reasons is not having consistent care.

So like a midwife, it doesn't matter if you're public or private, but a midwife that knows you and knows your body and knows where your baby is at and is with you all the way through and then is an advocate for you through the birth process. Yeah, absolutely. And whether that's at home or whether that's in a birthing centre in a hospital or whatever. Like I've had friends who've gone into labour, had no idea what to do, rung, they've said just stay at home, they've finally got too scared,

they spend the whole time being scared, then they drive all in there, then the people at the hospital tell them to drive home again. So they drive back twice, home and back, home and back. How is that going to end up being conducive for a woman to feel safe and secure to be able to process a birth and actually end up with an end result that is sort of safe for a woman and baby that isn't traumatic? Anyway. that is sort of safe for woman and baby that isn't traumatic. Anyway, yeah. Because even with our last one, even though it had happened before,

we were still like, do we go in now? Should we call? Like even though it was something that had happened, we were both still like, I don't know. And then when we rang and they heard you like have a contraction over the phone, they were like, okay, yeah, you better get down here. Yeah, and I just think I know we had a friend of ours who had a doula with them.

Yeah. And I think before that I thought doula sounded very hippie or something and maybe not for me. I'm sure some are. But I realised that really what it is is having someone who's experienced in birth to be able to be with you the whole time because husband or partner or whoever's there. No, of course I don't know.

No, I don't know. And even then you're too close to it. Like even if you learn as much as you can, you're too close to it. You can't make an informed decision really. Having someone there in the hospital with you who knows you, who will stay in the room with you because often midwives in hospitals are so busy. They've got so many patients.

Like there's so many stories of, you know often midwives in hospitals are so busy. They've got so many patients. There's so many stories of they're in and out and they're not with you all the time. So you don't necessarily always know what's happening to you and it's pot luck who you get and you can get fantastic midwives and you can get ones that are super busy and not there very much or ones that aren't very good. So having someone there who's your advocate to go, no, she wants this, turn the lights off.

She wants, I don't know, this particular music and this heat pack and she needs this thing and to follow you through that entire labour experience I think and obviously things still go wrong anyway. Yeah, if you've got obviously also if you've got the luxury of, you know, having that. Yeah, but I think that's something they're looking at trying to put into the system. It would make a lot of sense.

Yeah, because I think, you know, a long time ago, like when my mum was first having kids, women were sort of nurtured through the process. Yeah. And it was much more about celebrating what they achieved and, you know, the nurses took me so mum and dad could go out for on a date, you know, that kind of thing. Like it just would not have happened now. It's sort of like get out as out for on a date, you know, that kind of thing. Like it just would not have happened now.

It's sort of like get out as soon as you possibly can, you know, and all of those sorts of things. And there is something to be said for also being home or whatever. Oh, yeah, but I just. But the turnaround is like for some people, even that we know, is great. Anyway, I didn't mean to. I know this has derailed this whole thing.

I can talk about this later but I do think that women should be treasured and valued for, I mean giving birth is just one of the most incredible and difficult things I think anyone could ever do really and I just, I think we just need more support and more valuing of women. And not to like, you know, keep this going but also, and I know you've talked about this before and experienced this, often as soon as the baby is born then the priority is like just on the baby when like the mother has just experienced this like incredibly like traumatic

or at least physically taxing thing, you know what I mean? The focus shifts, which I think is lunacy because also if the baby needs to be healthy and fed and looked after, you know, the mother needs to be, you know, healthy. Yeah, needs to be healthy and cared for. And rested and, yeah. Yeah, as much as she can be. Yeah, exactly. And so.

Or paid maternity leave also. Totally, yeah. But I just think the more that we can look after women, especially when they're going through that birthing process, the better. Anyway, I didn't mean to take that on. No, no, that's fine. And I won't be watching that movie, but thank you very much. No problem.

It's really good. I would say don't anybody watch it because it's quite traumatic. But yeah. But a really interesting way of doing it and premise. Definitely. Hey, folks, it's Mark Maron from WTF. I travel all over North America doing stand up, and it's always good to know Airbnb is an option when I'm away from home.

But if you're away from home, why not take your own place and Airbnb it? Airbnb your whole home to make some extra cash. Or if you have a spare room that's not in use, just Airbnb that. Whether you could use extra money to cover some bills or for something a little more fun, your home might be worth more than you think. Find out how much at airbnb.ca slash host. All right, I have another recommendation.

I love recommendations. Okay, cool. This one is just, you know, it's not fun exactly, but it's kind of the kind of TV that I like where I don't have to like think too much and there's sort of, I don't know. The one you've been watching with Christopher Plummer? Yes, it's called The Departure. Oh, my goodness.

Yeah, I know. And my laptop is frozen. I'm just trying to get down to my notes. I'll cover this one. It's a British crime drama and it's something about international espionage and there's a lot of people in rooms with screens and they're like, how long till the whatever's happening? And they're like, I don't know, he's still in the field.

We can't get on to him. We're losing the connection. And then someone comes in and goes, I told you I'm from a different department. Let me explain the actual – it's actually really cool. So I mean it's a bit full on but it's great. It's like an unfolding mystery. So The Departure, there's a flight that goes up in the – it's a bit full on, but it's great. It's like a unfolding mystery. So the departure, there's a flash that goes up in the British show, BBC. And the plane just disappears off the map. And so initially they're not sure what's going on. And then they discover-

They check the back of the map? They flip it over? So no. Anyway, the plane has crashed and there's one survivor. I know. And so it kind of unfolds from there. There's a bit of kind of espionage. There's a bit of spy detective stuff, MI5s involved. One of the lead actress, and my notes haven't loaded, but she's brilliant and has come back from leave.

What's the show called again? The Departments. Her husband died in a car crash. It's called The Departure. Anyway, it's just one of those things that's kind of quite gripping and it's set in London, which I always love. And, you know, it's a BBC kind of drama. But I'm just enjoying it.

It's got an international cast as well. Yeah, it does. American and British. There you go. Among others. Well, there you go. And it's also, yeah, like quite a fun thing to watch if you just want some escapism.

Yeah, so you wouldn't call it to like. No, it's not too, I mean, you know, obviously there's some heavy themes but it's really like an unfolding mystery as to what's happened and what happened to the pilot and all of that stuff. Yeah. Sorry, this is funny. I just found an audience review. One star.

Some questions after watching the first episode of Departure. Why is a 90-year-old man running the Transport Safety Investigation Bureau, Christopher Plubber? He doesn't look, oh, he's dead now, but he doesn't look 90, does he? No, I don't. I don't think so. Oh, look, he's really good in it. Oh, my notes have finally loaded.

Oh, my goodness. Good Lord. Kendra Malley, Investigator Kendra Malley is the main character and she's played by Archie Punjabi. She's great. Yeah, and she's just really great. She has a really great way of kind of quietly going about things in a very clinical way but also she's got a troubled son

and she's come back from her husband died in a car crash, so she was on leave. My husband died in a car crash. And Christopher Plummer comes and he's like, we really need you. And she's like, I certainly couldn't. And he was like, you're the best there is. I'll see you on Monday. And I'm the oldest man in the world.

We really need a nap. I need you to come in. Yeah. Anyway, there you go. That's my recommendation, The Departure. Cool. All right, so just some light British-ish drama. Drama, yeah.

There's a lot of like gloomy staring at like computer screens and like the map of planes. It's my life, mate. A bit of tech stuff. It's my life, gloomily staring at a screen. My last one is a real pick-me-up, Claire. I'll tell you that one. Oh, God.

It better be a bloody pick-me-up. It's called Superstore. It was created by Justin Spitzer who worked on Scrubs, The Office and Queer as Folk, among many other things. It stars America Ferreira who you might know as Ugly Betty. She played Ugly Betty. Yes, I do know her. I think she was in Sisterhood of Something Something maybe with the pants.

Oh, the travelling pants. These pants. Look at these pants. They're travelling around. Ben Feldman, Laura Nash, Colton Dunn, Nicole Sakura. And it's like an Office, you know, Parks and Rec kind of inspired show where it follows the workers of this superstore, you know, like your Walmarts or your Kmarts or whatever, you know,

like the giant conglomerate stores that sell literally everything and they merely exist just to kind of wipe out any other minor businesses that happen to be in the area right so it follows like the everyday life of people in the store and like the insane people that come in and the insane people that work there and also like corporate mandates and like you know there's takeovers happening and shifting personnel and it talks about like minimum wage and unionizing and it's love also but it's hurricanes and it's like it's fun and light and it's really interesting the way that like you get to know the characters and it's actually wrapping up really soon.

It's wrapping up like this month but it started in 2015 and I only just started it this year because my brother, the one that Mason does, I'm like, we should check this out and it popped up on Netflix the first five seasons or whatever it is. Yeah, I think everyone's been talking about it. I've heard it mentioned a lot. I know people like love Brooklyn Nine-Nine and I've always been like, eh, it's fine, it's whatever to me.

You like the first season. Yeah, it's fine. Again, it's fine. I like this much more than I like Brooklyn Nine-Nine. I don't know, there's something about this that I just find really appealing and just like it's funny enough. It's better than averagely funny. It's like Parks and Rec, right? It's got, it's funny enough. It's like, it's better than averagely funny. It's like Parks and Rec, right?

It's got a similar vibe. It's probably not as good as Parks and Rec if I had to choose, but it's still very watchable and very entertaining and breezy and there's a million episodes. So yeah, it's on the NBC, but if you're in Australia, it's also on Netflix if you do want to check it out. But yeah, I think you should watch it. I think you'd really enjoy it.

It's really good. Yeah, I've watched a little. What I like about it is that you can kind to check it out. But, yeah, I think you should watch it. I think you'd really enjoy it. It's really good. Yeah, I've watched a little. What I like about it is that you can kind of dip into episodes. I didn't know what was going on. Totally. And I didn't know any of the characters but I still really loved it. And I got the kind of sense of like the pace of it and the world of it is really funny and quirky and I love how the timing of it

where it just like drops a joke and then moves on. Totally. And it doesn't do that thing where people are talking to a camera and they're like, I thought Greg was in the stock room, whatever. It doesn't do any of that. Stop doing that, which is good because it doesn't make any sense while anybody would be filming any of it. But, yeah, again, it's just like it's just bright and fun and breezy.

Yeah. And you get kind of invested in it. Yeah, no, the characters seem really great. Yeah. And diverse class too. Very diverse, kind of invested in it. Yeah, no, the characters seem really great. Yeah. And diverse class too. Very diverse, yeah. Always really good. All right, so I have an email.

I love emails. I know you can email the show too if you so choose. I'll do it right now. No, you can't. Dear Suggestible. Oh, God, here he goes. Fuck you both. Oh, jeez.

Your two woke, your opinions are different than my opinions and I don't like that. We actually very rarely get any emails like that because our listeners are legends. That's why I'm sending one. That's why I'm sending this one. Oh, okay, and then I can read it out. That's because the lunatics got to filter because they got to filter through my YouTube channel and they got to filter through the weekly planner

to get to here. And they got to make it to this little tiny heartwarming pocket of the internet. Not that that's the only place we get audience members from because often it's the partner of somebody who's like, I hate the Weekly Planet. They're like, well, the guy who does the Weekly Planet has a wife that you would like. So you should listen to this. And to be fair, if you do have a said wife or husband or partner or friend or parent

that you think would love this show because they don't get the Weekly Planet, please recommend it to them. We would love this show because they don't get the weekly blast, please recommend it to them. We would love that. I get a few emails actually from people saying that, that they got their partner or their brother or sister or something onto it. But I tolerate James and Claire. Do you like a very cynical man and a woman that's a little bit like a Muppet? I wouldn't even argue that I'm not that cynical because sometimes I meet a person

and I'm like, fucking this guy. My God. No, fucking this guy. My God. No, this little secret. This guy is a storm cloud of a human being. Oh, my God. That must literally be Eeyore. You've just bumped into Eeyore. I have bumped into Eeyore.

Or a mirror. Anyway, sorry, go on. I can't tell if that was that funny or if I'm just really bad. It was really funny. Okay, here's one thing I will say, listeners, it's a little secret about old Jim Bob over there. Here we go. He's a big old softy softy.

I'm hard. And he pretends he's all tough and he's all cynical and he's all, fuck this and I don't like that and the sky's overrated. The sky's overrated. Actually, he's got a little softy caramely centre and he's super, super lovely and he's a great dad. Disagree. No, it's so true.

You've got a big heart. Well, I'll tell you a secret. Covered by a lot of cynicism and coal. Anyway, can I read this bloody email? I would love it. I would love it. I would love it. All right.

So this email is from Deanna. Hello. My brother recently told me about your wonderful podcast. Oh, my goodness. I have a brother. Oh, your brother, Deanna, is a bloody legend. And I'm already loving listening. Oh, my God.

On your last episode, Claire mentioned American Dirt. And I thought you might be interested in further reading on the subject. You would be correct. The Beast, Riding the Rails and Dodging Narcos on the Migrant Trail by Oscar Martinez is from a Salvadorian journalist who spent a year travelling with migrants and learning their stories. I feel like we never really hear publishing buzz for investigative journalism books, especially in translation,

but this is such a powerful piece. He published in 2010 and I can only imagine what an updated piece would be like. Anyway, thanks for all the content, Deanna. Oh, interesting. So like an actual like real-life account. Yeah, yeah, exactly, which would be brilliant because I know there was some criticism of American Dirt for being a bit too, I don't know.

Fictionalised. Fictionalised and not necessarily really true of the migrant experience. So anyway, brilliant. I'm totally going to check that out. Thank you, Deanna, and thank you to your wonderful brother for recommending the show. I really appreciate that. Thank you to both of you.

Absolutely. You guys are all legends. Man, I wish I had a wonderful brother. That would be great. But unfortunately I have two very average brothers. Not in height though. They're much taller than you. Not much taller.

One is a little bit taller and one is much taller. So I guess on average they're both much taller. They're both much taller than you. But I can deadlift 110 kilo quite easily, Claire, in multiple reps. For an old guy. For an old guy, it's pretty good, mate. It's inspirational. It's very inspirational.

All right, off you go there. You've got a review for us. I do have a review here. It's so easy to review the show. You're not even going to believe it. You just open your app and you're like clickety-clack, let's get this on track. Jimmy's back. Let's get this on track. Clickety-clack. And it really helps the show. You're not even going to believe it. You just open your app and you're like, clickety-clack, let's get this on track. Jimmy's back. Let's get this on track. Clickety-clack. And it really helps the show. Five stars if you could. Five stars if you could. This is from abergica123.

He says, the adventures of Greg and the old boot. They give recommendations, some I agree with, some I don't. Give it a try. Isn't that life? It's a pretty succinct summary of what's going on in this podcast. What did you have there, mosquito? What's going to get you? No, it's not me. Did I get it? I don't know.

Did you get it? I don't know. There was no splurge of blood when you hit it. No, I don't think I got it. I think I just hit the podcast. I'm sorry, colleagues. You're going to have to edit all the mosquitoes out. Of the podcast?

Of the podcast that you're buzzing around. No, you can't hear a man. You've got a skill for getting mosquitoes at night time. No, I don't have a skill. I have like a very low tolerance, so I will not stop. Remember that one time? I'm the terminator of killing mosquitoes. Remember you only get two weeks holiday a year and that one holiday

then we went to a beach house and there was just mosquitoes coming in all the time? I don't know where they were coming from. They were like getting in through a vent or something and they just mauled us the entire time we were there. They're behind me. Oh, God. Did you just touch it?

No, I didn't. It got out. Okay, the other thing mosquitoes do is just weirdly vanish. Yeah, that one left. I saw it leave the room. Like they buzz around. And sometimes I'll be looking at them with both my eyeballs and then it will just appear like it's gone.

You also have terrible eyesight. No, I wear my glasses. It's not a basketball game, James. It's gone. You also have terrible eyesight. I wear my glasses. It's not a basketball game, James. It's true. I mean, it is much smaller than a basketball, but I get your point, I guess. What I'm in reference to is when I played in a basketball team and I never wore my glasses. Is it annoying for you when you're swimming or whatever or doing an activity where you can't wear your glasses like a gym and you can't see what is happening at all?

Yes, it is. Because you also find a thing where like if somebody waves, you're like you can't tell if they're waving at you or you know them or you squint. So then you think like am I being rude to that person? Does that person even know me? Do I know them? Exactly.

One time I saw a guy on the street who I thought was my friend from the theatre troupe that I used to be a part of. Oh, my God. That would have been a big hello from you then, wouldn't it? It was massive because, you know, theatre troupe, guys. Yeah, big nerd. Super friends. And Darren was like a big personality.

And so I ran. I was like, Darren, Darren. And I ran across and I got, I would say, half a metre from him. That's so close. It's so close, yelling then with my arms outstretched and then I realised the reason he wasn't turning around was because it wasn't Darren. Oh, well.

How was Darren? I don't know. I haven't seen Darren in a long time. This man that you're apparently in love with. We had a great time. You know that thing where somebody waves at you but they're actually waving the person behind you? Oh, yeah.

Now I embrace that now. It happened to me the other day. Somebody waved and it was somebody behind me and I just went, oh, I just thought you were waving. Yeah, I don't know. I just thought you were waving at me. I didn't just like pretend it didn't happen. Did you know that person?

No, absolutely not. I just thought they were waving at me. So I don't want to be rude. I don't want to be rude. I'm just like, hey, hi. No, I don't know them. Anyway, now we're best friends. Who are you kidding?

You don't make new friends. I've never made a friend in my life and I don't intend to. I like making friends. I like making lots of friends. I'll make a friend. I'll make a friend called Darren. I should have made friends. I made friends with that guy on the street who wasn't called Darren.

Did you? And now we're best friends. Wow. I'd love to meet him one day, this man who you're best friends with that I've never heard of. It just didn't care. Yeah, I know. I was like 16 in a theatre troupe, my friend.

that I've never heard of. It just didn't care. Yeah, I know. I was like 16 in a theatre troupe, my friend. I think it's funny that we met and didn't know each other and became friends. That's crazy. And now we live together and have two children together. Well, we didn't become friends. No, that's true.

We became relations. We were relations to each other. We were. We were in a relationship. That is weird. But don't you think that's weird that like – Well, I think it's less weird than like you grow up with somebody and then, you know what I mean, and they're in your family

and then you marry them. Okay, yeah, well, that would be gross. Yeah, I understand. I know. We're not Woody Alley-ing it over here, are we? But anyway, it just sometimes I think that's so funny that like you just – Yeah, somebody you don't know and then – And then they become like the most important person in your life.

Well, until you have kids. But yeah. Or apparently this Darren bloke. Oh, no. Here he goes. I'm going to have to find Darren and explain to him that he needs to talk to James and tell him about the time he was standing outside a McDonald's in St Kilda because we were performing at the theatre

in St Kilda. The theatre in St Kilda. Okay, I have to also tell you about this theatre troupe just on the by before we finish. Sure. We would do musical excerpts from all different musicals, my favourite one of which was Chicago and we would do Pop, Six, Switch, Ah-Ha, Cicero, lip shit.

Do you know that one? Yeah, I've seen it. He had it coming. He had it coming. Darren was standing in front of McDonald's. I feel like there was. And then she yelled out and it wasn't actually him. Yeah, the thing is as well.

Did you like my song? Yeah, it's great. A lot of musicals don't translate to movies and I feel like Chicago is one of them. No, you are absolutely incorrect. That was a great movie. Catherine Zeta-Jones, are you kidding me? Renee Zellweger, nailed it.

I don't know. That is one of the movies that does lend itself to musicals, that does lend itself to a film. Not everyone does. But that one in particular was excellent. Okay. Well, I'm going to lend myself to watching Superman and Lois, which is my tradition after I finish this podcast.

Oh, no, I've got to edit. Fuck. And then I'll watch it. It's a real busy week for you, isn't it? It is, isn't it? It's a real busy week. It's a real busy week for me too. It's just a real busy week.

It's a busy week all times. Yeah, so many times. All right, thanks for listening, though, guys. We appreciate it. If you've got recommendations, send them on through. We'll be real busy week. It's a real busy week for me too. It's just a real busy week. It's a busy week all times. Yeah, so many times. All right, thanks for listening though, guys. We appreciate it. Yeah, we appreciate it. If you've got recommendations, send them on through. We'll be back next week. Please do.

And my newsletter, please, if you would like. Oh, sign up for it. Sign up for it. I'll send you a little bit of words and you can always unsubscribe if it's not for you. That's what I do. Cold Taunts comes out every Friday morning. Link in the bio.

Thank you to Rock Hollings for editing this show. Here's a question because, Claire, you're making a separate podcast at the moment. You're putting it together. I know it's early days. But would you be interested to know what people would like you to talk about in this podcast? Oh, that's interesting.

I know you've got a very solid idea of what it is, but I feel like it would align with what people might think though. Oh, okay. Just send in. What do people just give us maybe an idea? I'd be curious as to what people think think though. Oh, okay. Just send in. What do people – maybe an idea. Oh, all right. I'd be curious as to what people think would be a good fit for you. For me, if I'm making my own podcast because I'm slowly trying

to usurp the weekly minute. Who knows? Maybe you'll be even more successful than this podcast. Well, look, yes. Anyway, that's interesting. You just – It's at the end so people probably switched off. We probably won't get any messages. Well, I find often when I mention that's interesting. You just let people know. It's at the end, so people probably switch it off. We probably won't get any messages.

Yeah. Well, I find often when I mention something at the very end of a podcast, we get no responses. But it's still important to throw it out there. Thank you. I appreciate that. All right, let's dig it out of here. Thanks for going to the edit.

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