Suggestible - Thursday Therapy

Episode Date: December 10, 2020

Suggestible things to watch, read and listen to. Hosted by James Clement @mrsundaymovies and Claire Tonti @clairetonti.Support the show, watch what you want, and protect yourself with ExpressVPN at expressvpn.com/suggestible.This week’s Suggestibles:Noom: Health & Weight AppArmchair Expert with Hillary ClintonFreakyNot the movie Breath.TimmWinto on TwitterThe 13-Storey TreehouseAndy Griffiths & Terry Denton ArticleThe Starry MusicalSend 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.

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. Hello, welcome to Suggestible Pod. I'm Claire. James is here also. Hello. I am James. Welcome to Suggestible Pod, where we recommend books, movies, TV shows, comics. Sometimes food.

Food apps. I don't know, like places. Positivity. Positivity, fun. Freedom. We read some letters from people who write in. All right, all right, all right. I will review you at the end. Pick it up, James. You're getting real boring.

I need more of this kombucha. Oh, gosh, here he goes. You know how much he loves kombucha. I love it. We're married. Yep. We would love to talk to you about all the things we've been doing in our house. Not everything we've been doing.

Just some things. That does sound like you were doing like what are those people called? You know those pyramid scheme people. We know where they go and they're like, we're married and we'd love to talk to you about Tupperware or whatever. Yeah, like an infomercial. Yeah, exactly. Yeah.

You know those pyramid schemes though? Like often people get into them and they're like, it's like Herbal Life or whatever. I know what a pyramid scheme is. No, I know, but you know what I mean. Are you trying to mansplain me a pyramid scheme? No, no, no. This is for everybody listening because, you know, sometimes you get a friend who's like

they get heavily into it and they try to get everybody involved. I reckon actually in my life it hasn't been my friends directly. It's been like people I went to high school with who I haven't seen in like 15 years connect with you on Facebook and then they start liking a few of the photos and then you get a weird message. It's like, are you really into mascara? You look gorgeous, darling. Would you be interested in this thing? Think such and such has changed my life or whatever. And slick, good salesperson technique though. Correct. Liking a few posts getting in there. Totally. Good salesperson technique, though. Correct. Liking a few posts, getting in there. Totally.

Good. Anyway, can we get on with recommending you things other than random friends from high school that recommend you pyramid schemes? I just feel bad because I just want to write, like, you've been conned. Just step away. Like, cut your losses. Anyway, yeah, go on. Whatever makes everybody happy.

Why don't you go first, Claire? What have you got? It's my turn. It's my life and it's now or never. Yeah. I'm gonna, all right, no, I'm just gonna get started. Okay, tell me, what should I start with? Boring, fun. Boring. All right. So first up. Off to a slow start, that's what I say. Okay, slow start. I'm building up to the good one. No, this is actually surprising. It's not anything I would normally recommend and it's certainly not sponsored.

I'm recommending, strangely enough, an app called Noom. I thought this was going to be the exciting one. This is the one I was like, what was the other one? Well, you'll have to wait and see. I'm up in the ante. I bet this one is more exciting to me. All right. Yeah, it would be because as listeners of this show

and James' other less successful podcasts would know, The Weekly Planet, he's obsessed with all things fitness and he's always trying to bully me into caring more about calories and eating weird cereal in a box. That is not true. What is that weird cereal that arrived at our doorstep? It's bad. It's just like every time a door doorbell rings i always think again what other

junk food is he ordered from the internet i'm trying to supplement junk food with like low calorie like equivalents and it's very difficult today i'm like it was like it's like a protein cereal i'm like great you can eat a bunch of it like it's not it's got low carbs and whatever but it's actually just like horrible protein powder with like cereal bits. Like it's not, it's got low carbs and whatever, but it's actually just like horrible protein powder with like cereal bits in it. It's awful. And I spent like 60 bucks on it. What?

You didn't tell me that. Believe it. I wanted to surprise you on the show. 60 bucks on cereal? Do you know how much normal cereal costs? It's not even cereal. It's not cereal. Oh my God. If you had like, I don how much normal cereal costs? It's not even cereal. It's not cereal. Oh, my God.

If you had like, I don't know, like a- Are you insane? Yes. We don't have that kind of money to be spending 60 bucks on cereal. If it was like a tennis ball sized amount of protein powder, there's probably like four bits of cereal in it. But that's surely more expensive than your regular protein powder. Oh, yeah.

It was too expensive. Oh, my God. Anyway, moving right along. Yeah, we're sorry. Your app. So I'm recommending an app called Noom. It's the world's leading behavior change company, apparently, as it says on its website.

This sounds like a multi-level marketing scam. Disrupting the weight loss and healthcare industry. Immediately I am like, no, this sounds like a scam. Whoa, it's the bad boy of the weight loss industry. But actually I was so surprised. I heard it talked about on Dax Shepard's podcast, Armchair Expert, because he interviewed Hillary Clinton this week or a couple of weeks ago. Brilliant interview, really interesting.

Hillary Clinton clearly just doesn't care anymore what anybody thinks about her and she's just being really candid and great. She's going out. And she's so great on that show. She's got a book to sell probably. Yeah, she does. But I think also she just obviously can't be going about her business anymore, trying to be president. So she doesn't

have to worry so much about what people think about her. Anyway, she's had a huge hand in Kamala Harris being elected as VP too, which is really cool. Behind the scenes, she's doing a lot of amazing advocacy work. Anyway, let's talk about Hillary. So I decided because I am in a weird post-pregnancy vibe station with my fitness and health. And also with like COVID and lockdown for most of this year has meant that I've just been recovering from pregnancy without having access to the gyms or anything that we normally would have. And also I've had a few health complications that have meant it's been really hard for me to get back on track. And because this has been a second baby as well, my body's just really changed a lot.

And the weight, it just isn't shifting. And I'm all about embracing bodies at all sizes. But for me, it's getting in the way of doing things I would normally like to do. And I want to focus on being healthy and strong. And this is what I liked about Noom. It's actually based on behavioral psychology. So it's kind of like a startup in New York and they use artificial intelligence, mobile tech, so it's an app, and psychology with the empathy of over 1,000 personal coaches who are real people employed by the company to help people live healthier lives by changing their long-term habits.

And now more than 50 million people have benefited from Noom's behavior change courses. 50 million. 50 million people. I sound like I'm in an ad, but that's pretty much it. I know, and I promise you this isn't sponsored. It also includes a virtual diabetes prevention program, which was the first of its kind to be recognized by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

Oh, wow, okay. So it's actually doing really great work, and I just thought, I'll just click on this app, I'll download it and just see what I think about it. See what's up. Yeah, immediately I loved it. I've just fallen in love with it because I've tried a lot of different things. I've done online programs. I've done Michelle Bridges, which I quite enjoyed, which is like, you know,

fitness videos and workouts and food plans. And I've done all kinds of different things over the years. And a lot of which have worked and you've enjoyed, I guess. Yeah, yeah, exactly. But at the moment I've got no time really to think about it very much. And I do quite a lot of exercise, but where I think I really am struggling is with food and trying to make better choices. Anyway, so I opened up the app. I'm just going to list the things I loved about it. Immediately, I really liked the graphics. They're really clear. It makes a huge

difference. Oh, it does. It makes a huge difference. Oh, it does. It makes so much difference, right? And it's extremely easy to use. The wording is really simple and comforting and funny. It's quite quirky, which is really nice. It's really continually supportive and kind of like affirming of you and where you're at. You have to enter in details like your height and weight, a bit about your sort of goals in terms of weight loss, about your lifestyle in general. They just ask you lots of questions and you have to kind of- Is it like a drop down questionnaire thing?

Yeah, yeah, yeah. There's a drop, they do a survey initially. When you first open the app, they do a survey and that's all free and they give you access to a kind of free program they put together for you and they give you a free trial for two weeks to see if you like it. It's sort of an opt-in thing so they tell you how much it costs to pay the people that are creating it and they say you can contribute $2 or $5, whatever you want, or free for those first two weeks. And then after that it's $9 a week for four months,

which initially I thought, oh, I don't know about paying $9 for something like this. I mean, it's not that much. I mean, I know it is for some or whatever but like. No, but for when I, I guess the main thing is does it work, right? Yeah, exactly. That's the biggest thing. What I really liked was that I'm learning a lot.

I thought I knew a lot about fitness and health and calories and input, but I'm still learning so much. There's little snippets, like it's timed. So you only kind of are on there maybe seven to ten minutes a day. That's an interesting thing you're telling me about it. Yeah, like it tells you to get off. Yeah, it tells you to get off. It's like you're burning out.

Take a break. It hits seven minutes and it says take a break. Yeah. And it kind of takes you to get off. Yeah, it tells you to get off. It's like you're burning out. Take a break. It hits seven minutes and it says take a break. Yeah. And it kind of takes you through a course. So each day there's like it unlocks little tasks that you achieve each day, which is I think the genius of it and obviously why it's clearly working with behavioral psychology. I've done it for three days and I haven't missed a day,

which I think already says something because often you'll start a thing a day for one day and then give it away. But with this, I think the genius of it is that it's like one minute tasks that you complete and it ticks off for you. What kind of things are you talking about? So for instance, it starts by weighing yourself every day, which is a bit confronting, but it's a task that's achievable that you can do in less than 30 seconds. You fill it in and you feel like, oh, I've done something. You log your food and that's sort of like you've done breakfast, tick. There's a whole catalog of menus and meal ideas as well, but there's no actual diet plan because I hate those. I've always sort of thought

I'll stick to this particular meal plan. Never does. That doesn't work for me either. No. I like to know what's in something and I'm like, okay, I know this is roughly this, I can eat this much of it or whatever. Yeah. And it's based around this thing called calorie deficit. Yeah. So it has three colors for foods, red, yellow, and green. And the red foods are the higher density in calories. So like peanut butter or chocolate or something would be a higher density of calories.

So you can have some of it but they're saying eat less of it because it's calorie dense. So it's not bad, it's just calorie dense. That's a good approach as opposed to cutting out like everything. Yeah, particular foods. Yeah, or like no carbs and all that stuff. And then yellow foods are like say boiled eggs that have, you know, like more water content so they're less calorie dense.

And then green foods, which would be like your lettuces, cucumber, whole grains. Celeros. Yeah, celeros, fruit, all of that stuff that's like really low calorie density. And immediately, because I'm logging my food choices in, I can see how much I can eat based on the calories and it's right there and there's something about being accountable and before, like people have suggested write a food diary,

I never know where to write it. I don't know if I always have a pen. What are you writing down? What are you writing down? And you can't see it whereas there's something about typing in, I don't know, two Weet-Bix or something and it says exactly how many calories it is and they give you a calorie allotment for the day. So as you're logging your food in real time, cause you've always got your phone with you,

you can see the calories kind of working up through the day. Yeah. And so I take it that's also in relation to like how much you want to lose over what time period. Well, they set that for you. So you're not like I want to lose this much in two months. It tells you like because I think your target month was June for when you'd be where you want to be at. Is that right?

Yeah, next year. So it's all calculated off that but it's not like, yeah, just crash diet for like two months. No, that's what I really like. It bases it on your age, your gender, your physical fitness and what your kind of goal weight. So you put in your goal weight and your current weight and then it will just tell you a bit about how long it takes to get there.

But they don't say how, you know, do you want to do it in six weeks? They're like, you will not achieve this until June. That's also better for maintaining it as well, I feel, because often if you like do it incorrectly or you just stop eating or whatever, then that you often like rebound and kind of yo-yo. But I think if you do that more, I don't know. I don't know much about it. Yeah, it's just.

It's more like it becomes like a habit and it's more sustainable. Yeah, I'm just really loving it. It's just on my phone. Yeah. I'm sure people are switching on it. But I wonder, I think it's quite common. A lot of us have been sitting at home during lockdown in this year, stress eating.

Yeah, totally. You know. This is like very much kind of because I lost probably 10 kilos about three years ago, probably about that. And it was like I did it similarly but in a different way. But it was food. Like it came down to food. Like I was still going to the gym but then I realised like I'm just going

to have to shift everything that I've been doing. And it was just kind of being aware what's in everything. And I initially started like sort of tracking stuff but now I kind of don't do it. I'm like, yeah, I've got a rough idea or whatever. But, yeah, it was, I mean it sounds, but it's food. It's all food. Yeah. And it does. And it's not simple and food for me. And I know for a lot of people is really challenging for lots of reasons, because it's not just about simply what you put in and all

of that stuff and eat more vegetables. It's all to do with your childhood, with emotions, with stress, with exhaustion, with the way your body feels, with time as well, with like energy and ability to forward plan because all of this stuff, realistically what I'm discovering is I can eat more if I eat more vegetables basically, which sounds so simple. It's ridiculous but, yeah, you can fill It's ridiculous. Yeah, it's ridiculous. But, yeah, you can fill up on like, I mean, it's not great stuff, is it? No, but you can add.

And you don't feel as hungry also. Yeah, exactly, because they said that vegetables and fruits have a higher content of water. So the more water-based, you know, stuff you eat, the fuller you'll feel. Yeah, that's right. So I know it's sort of depressing. But in the same way, it means you're not limiting because you can still have other stuff that you like.

Yeah. And if you have a day where you might have – go out for lunch or whatever and have a big meal, then you might just say, well, I've had my calories for today and I might just have a lighter dinner or something. And also the whole app is about not being perfect. Yeah, exactly. And it tracks your – And you can slip up or not even slip up. Just be like, who cares? I'm going to do this

thing today. Yeah. And the main thing I like about it is it's really nice to you. And it talks to you a lot about self-talks. I'm like, you idiot. What have you done? Well, for me, a lot of this stuff is around self-talk and how I talk to myself about my body. And I think a lot of people struggle with this too. And so just having an app that's trying to change your habits to be more supportive. I know I'm banging on about this for too long. I love this stuff. We were recently asked a question like what are you like a nerd about? This is my other more successful podcast.

It was like towards the end. Yes, thank you. And one of the things I said was like I love this kind of stuff because I'm not so much like – like I like trying to figure out how to be fit with the most – with the smallest amount of effort possible. Do you know what I mean? What's like the quickest road to do it, do you know what I mean? Yeah, yeah.

As opposed to like I don't need to know all the minutia and whatever. I just need to know like what's the thing that I can do that I can just do every day and that's what my brother's calling. I'll call him after. But the one that Mason does like. Yeah. And so I love this stuff. Like because I do like I do F45 like five, six days a week or whatever

and I try to eat well and that's kind of where I'm at. The other interesting thing and I'm learning so much already and I'm on day three. The other interesting thing is that it'm learning so much already and I'm on day three, the other interesting thing is that it tracks your steps through a pedometer just on your phone. I didn't even know we had a pedometer on our phone. But it sort of said the goal eventually is 10,000 steps a day and that can really have just a massive impact on your ability

to just function and go through your life. Especially with diet. Yeah, and they have some really gentle ways of talking through that, yes, running in the gym is all really important, but walking is just as effective. You just have to do it for longer. Yeah, that's exactly right. It's that thing of like calories in, calories out.

Yeah, yeah, exactly. Anyway, so I would just, to me this, I know everyone has different things at work, but for me this has been, I've been surprised at how supportive I've, supported I've felt by it, not threatened and not sort of lectured to or made to feel guilty. I've just, it's been really easy to use and really quite fun. Like I'm really actually quite enjoying it I think because you're ticking off tasks at times.

Yeah, yeah. Like a little video game. You feel like you're like, oh, bing, another one. Look at me. I'm really actually quite enjoying it I think because you're ticking off tasks at times. Yeah, yeah. It's like a little video game. You feel like you're like, oh, bing, another one. Look at me. I'm so good. Anyway, I'll check in and see. It might only be three days. Next week I might be like, ooh, I'm over this.

Yeah, maybe. But like if so, whatever. Yeah, exactly. You can always jump back on it or try a different thing and it's important. The biggest thing I think is that I feel supported and the way I speak to myself is changing. I think we can all do with a little bit more kindness to ourselves. Disagree.

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Correct. On with the shoe. On with the shoe. All right, your turn. Speaking of losing or gaining weight, I watched the movie Freaky. Are you familiar with this movie? No, I'm not. It sounds like something I would hate.

Maybe. It's directed by Christopher Landon who directed the Happy Death Day movies, which I talked about recently. Happy Death Day to you. Oh, you did a poo. Don't do so many poos. Happy Death Day to you. No, do as many poos as you want.

People often poo when they die. Yeah, I've to you. No, do as many poos as you want. People often poo when they die. Yeah, I've heard that. Yeah. Just a fun fact. I'm sorry. I promise I won't repeat the disaster of last week. My grandpa on his deathbed.

Oh, God. Yeah, he said, I'm doing a big shit. That didn't happen. I wasn't there. Don't say that about your grandpa. No, I'm sorry I apologise Good lord he was not someone that would enjoy that joke Well good thing he's dead

You're going to see him again now I bet And he's going to have to take some umbrage with you I don't give a fuck He's much taller than you I think that's why you didn't like each other No that's not He was so tall you were so short We were just from

Never the twain shall meet. No. Well, he was like he was an amazing person who did amazing things. He was an incredible person. And was like a war hero. Exactly. So I don't think that was a very respectful. No, totally not.

We just never clicked and that's all right. I'm okay with it. I've got other people in my life who are tall that I can enjoy, Claire. Anyway, the movie Freaky. Happy Death Day was that movie. It's about – I didn't mean to get deep about my grandpa then. It felt like it's something – it sounds like when I say that that I've got some kind of problem and maybe I do.

I should look into that. Anyway, the Happy Death Day movie is Claire. I mean, you have a lot of problems. I've got a lot of problems. You know what? I'll push that one to the back. I'll deal with the other ones first. But those are the movies about a girl who gets murdered and she keeps waking up.

She gets murdered and she wakes up and she's trying to figure out who it is. They're really good. Anyway, this is the director of that, but it's a new movie and it stars Vince Vaughn, Catherine Newton, Katie Finnegan and Celeste O'Connor. And it's basically a twist on the slasher genre. Remember the movie Freaky Friday? This is what it's sort of loosely kind of the idea is based upon. A serial killer played by Vince Vaughn, who's like 6'7",

however big he is, swaps bodies with Catherine Newton, who's like a high school student who's like 5'9". Not 5'9", like 5'5". So it's basically she wakes up in the morning she's in the body of Vince Vaughn he's in her body and then they're kind of going about their day and what's interesting is because it's interesting for her because you know she she has to be like Vince Vaughn and deal with like people recognize her as this serial killer but the other side of that is the Vince Vaughn character who's trying to run around and kill people but he's like tiny

and not as strong. So it's like they're both kind of dealing with, you know, the situation in their own way. Terrible issues. Yeah. But Vince Vaughn is really good. He plays like a teenage girl really well. Like it's thoroughly, is that your phone?

What is that? Yes, I don't know what's happening. It's not even, phone? What is that? Yes, I don't know what's happening. It's not even, it might be that app, Claire. I don't know what's happening. It's like have you been eating ice cream? I'll kill you. I know. Oh, my God.

What if it turns into some Freaky Friday situation? It might just. But so like he's very convincing and she's also like quite terrifying as like a killer but like, you know, with the mind of Vince Vaughn. I'm not going to explain this very well. No, you're really not. But I do really like Vince Vaughn. He's another tall man.

He's a tall man. I probably wouldn't like him. I wouldn't like him. No, no, you wouldn't like him at all. Yeah. No, exactly. Here's the thing though. It's like an okay movie.

But they're really good. Yeah. Like, yeah, and that's kind of like it's fine. You know what I mean? It's like, oh, this is fun. And the people are fine in it. And it's like, you know, it's an interesting-ish idea, whatever you mean. Whatever I mean. Whatever you

mean. Whatever is happening, it's fine. And I think it's just something to... It really is. I'm very tired of that. We're both short-circuiting. Okay, that sounds cool. I'd like to check that out. You won't watch it. Probably not. It's got some pretty good kills in it.

There's a moment where Vince Vaughn shoves. Why is that? Are you selling that to me by saying there's some good kills in it? This is why you're not going to watch it. This is for people who might watch it. Yeah, exactly. Don't point at me. He shoves a wine bottle down a guy's throat and you see it like bolt out in his neck.

And then he breaks it in his neck and like the shards like go through his neck. Well, that's terrifying. Yeah, it's terrifying. How is that a fun time? It's fun. People who love horror love that stuff, mate. They're all over it. Just on a side note, I watched a really disturbing movie this week.

You saw me watch it called Breathe. Yeah, it was weird. And the first half of it was so great. It's based on the book by our old mate. Tim Winton. Tim Winton, who's an Australian author who ostensibly often writes about like teenagehood and mainly teenage boys' experiences and there's always some kind of weird sexual references in it.

Yeah, it's kind of like coming-of-age stories. He's also written a really famous book called Cloud Street. Anyway, he wrote Breathe and it's a surfing book because Tim Winton's really obsessed with surfing. And boy cultures. Correct, and he has some cracker stories about whales and surfing and swimming with dolphins and all the things. I actually really like him.

I think he's a kind of interesting guy. He's a very kind of specific aesthetic and conversationalist. Anyway, but this film I watched and the first half was so beautiful. It's set on the Australian coast and it's like two teenage boys who get taken on by this kind of older surfer dude and he teaches them to surf. Simon something something. Yeah, from The Mentalist, plays the mentor.

It's just great in that he's challenging them with the surf and all these crazy surf sort of spots that are kind of secret and hidden and it's also, you know, a coming of age of these two boys learning about life. I thought it was so great. And then it just took this really strange turn. The second half of the movie just becomes about the mentor's girlfriend who is played by an actress who's going to be Diana. She's in Tenet and she's Diana.

Elizabeth Debicki. Elizabeth Debicki who is an incredible actress. She gets, I literally counted, she gets like 15 lines in the first half of the movie. She just kind of wafts about being this kind of injured aerial skier. Yes. But she literally has like maybe, yeah, a few lines each time. She mainly just says, what?

You're still here. And then just like wafts around their hippie house. And then the second half she forms this relationship with one of the teenage boys and it's like really twisted and weird and awful and then the movie just ends. And she has like almost no character arc. She's clearly just kind of mentally damaged. And it's just such a, it was just really unsettling. So don't watch that if you don't want to be unsettled.

Yeah, when you're watching it, I'm like, this is a weird vibe and I don't like it. Yeah, it started really, it's also because you hate surfers. I do hate surfers. And look, it's incredibly beautiful, the way that it's shot. Australian bush and the beaches just look spectacular. Yeah, it is. It's a beautiful movie. And it does give you a real insight into the guts and kind of glory of surfing and surfing culture. But, yeah, odd movie towards the end. Anyway, that's not what I was going to recommend.

Oh, can I just quickly say, like, if you love Tim Winton, there's a guy on Twitter called Tim with double M Winto. It's like a fake Tim Winton account. It's very specific if you know about Tim Winton and his love for the seas and like teenage boys and surf culture. I'm just going to read out a few of these tweets. Okay. Right. I never read a book I liked, not even my friend's books. All dreadful. When I think about it, I feel crook. Like I need to go to the dunny. This is just for me, so I apologize. No one is going to get this reference.

Boys getting into fist fights. Boys getting let down by their fathers. Boys getting high off the fumes from paintball pallets. These are just a few of the themes I try to shed light on. Boys getting their willies caught in desk drawers. These are my two favorites though. Oh, my God. My all-time most hated vessel is the submarine because it disrespects the sea.

And the last one is the taxman came to the beach again, but I managed to avoid them by refusing to paddle back in, and eventually they got bored and left. I belong in prison, but I won't go. Oh, God, it's so niche. It's so niche. Only people who've ever read a Tim Winch book. Oh, Mason showed me that, and I'm like, that's the best. Oh, my God. There's so niche. It's so niche. Only people who've ever read a Tim Winton book. Oh, Mason showed me that and I'm like, that's the best. Oh, my God.

There's only like 75 tweets. Because that's the thing as well with Tim Winton, all his books and like the subsequent films are all like very much the themes. Yeah, totally. Because you studied them at school. Like often I think everyone at some point who lives in Australia has studied a Tim Winton book at school. Yeah.

And it's always like themes of teenage boyhood. Yeah, I love it. Yeah, anyway. Oh, my God, so hilarious. The best Twitter account. Thanks for that. Okay, speaking of incredible Australian authors. Sorry, please continue.

I am recommending The 13-Story Treehouse. Oh, yeah, this is a good one. It's so good by Andy Griffiths and Terry Denton. And there's ten books in the series all up and they're short chapter books. Yeah, there's ten now. I know. We've just started. We've read the 13th, so the first story with our son who's five

and we're on to the second already. And my goodness, does he love it. Yeah. These books, they're chapter books with really cool kind of scribbled illustrations by Terry Denton. They're perfect for kids from about five to ten years old, I think, but I'm loving them as an adult as well. They're really funny.

There's a lot of layered humour in there and some really good ones kind of just for the adults too and quite good puns. If you like that die of a wimpy kid kind of vibe, they're kind of like on that kind of level, yeah. I reckon they are so creative and outright hilarious. Each story is fast-paced and jam-packed with funny illustrations, layered jokes and undeniably outlandish scenes. And the scenes kind of get more outlandish as they go.

The first treehouse in the 13-story treehouse book has a bowling alley, a see-through swimming pool, a secret underground laboratory and a marshmallow machine that follows you around and automatically shoots marshmallows into your mouth whenever you're hungry. So in other words, a five-year-old boy's heaven or just any five-year-old. Do you think they're more boy-focused, would you say? No.

I mean, yes, in a way, yes, they are. They're written by two blokes. But there's the character Jill who actually is Andy Griffith's wife, actually is also in the story and she becomes more and more involved as they go along. Okay, right, yeah. So I don't think they're, I mean, they're two boys, yeah, and there's some funny kind of gross jokes but I'm loving it.

I think girls would just love them just as much as boys actually. They're really funny. They're really funny and, yeah, immediately grabbed me. They're really kind of pitched for kids who haven't been that into reading and kind of launching them. They're a great gateway drug in a way into more serious books and longer form chapter books. Just read.

Yeah, totally, yeah. You know, because they kind of bridge that gap really well with picture books. And there's pictures as well, but not like, not too many pictures if you're worried about too many pictures. No. No, yeah. And the language is really rich and funny.

They're kind of a bit Roald Dahl-esque as well, I would say. Yeah, a little bit Roald Dahl-esque. Absolutely. So I'll tell you a little bit about the writing, Perizzo, which I found was really interesting because, you know, I always love how people create stuff. Yeah. So Andy Griffiths writes the words and Terry Denton draws the pictures. Ostensibly that's the way it works.

But I think it's more of a collaborative process. It seems that way, yeah. Yeah, they've been working together since 1997 with their first book, Just Tricking, and have gone to collaborate on the best-selling Just and Treehouse series, which combined have sold more than 3.5 million copies. Yeah, I know. So Griffiths and Andy write together in Griffiths' Melbourne home. He has a studio out the back, and this studio is so cool.

There's an article from the ABC, and I'll link it, or Collings will link it in the show notes, with this awesome picture of their studio. It puts us to shame. Every surface is covered with toys, books, gadgets and gags and it's just jam-packed full of fun and imagination and just like outlandish stuff. For instance, there's plastic vomit on the ground and a jar

of Andy's Own Vomit just sits on the table with like a label that says Andy's Own Vomit. An actual jar of vomit? I think it's like a fake jar of vomit. What if it was real? Yeah, I know. Among all the gadgets, there's one that takes pride of place. It's a six-foot model of the treehouse.

Oh, cool. Yeah, we complete with bowling alley, swimming pool and maze of doom, which is really cool. Some penguins get lost in it in one of the books. I missed the start of that book because, you know, we kind of split the reading. A team reading, yeah. Where does the treehouse come from?

Did they build it? Well, they don't tell you in the first one. Yeah, they built it. Oh, okay. The second book is an origin story. So it's how Terry and Andy met because really all the books are written in this way where Terry and Andy are writing a book in a treehouse, in this incredible treehouse, and kind of all these things disrupt

their ability to write their books and they've got this publisher who's always breathing down their neck. So it's quite fun in the way that it's written to the reader. They kind of break down that, is it the third wall? Yeah. Yeah, which I really love. Fourth wall. Fourth wall, there you go.

Yeah, so the first book, though, doesn't explain, it just says they built it but you don't find out anything else more about that but the second one you do and then kind of comedy ensues from there. Anyway, I just love the idea that they're both like, you know, I'd say they're now in their 50s and it just sort of they love going into their kind of nine-year-old headspace and they go there in Andy's studio and just kind of have the most fun.

And Jill, Andy's wife, actually, has also been a collaborator too. She features heavily in the books and, yeah, kind of helps them with the writing process. So I just have just fallen in love with this series and I totally recommend it. Because I remember one of our nephews, our godson, he was into them like years ago and I remember now he's like 10. Yes.

And, yeah, that's interesting that I was just like, oh, yeah, and then I just kind of and now they've come around again. Our son's probably the same age that he was when he was. Yeah, really into them. Yeah. Yeah, it's so interesting, isn't it? Like because it's reminding me that every age is really specific. Oh, yeah.

You know, so five at the moment is just an awesome age, you know, and kids. His boss school ruins him. Oh, no. Hold out some hope, my friend. Anyway, you know what else I really love? Just very quickly, in their bios, Terry Denton's bio just says, he lives by the sea in Australia with his wife, three kids, and a pop-up toaster that only toasts on one side.

I really enjoy that. And in Andy's one he said he's a big fan of Dr Seuss and cauliflower. What? Those two things are not. I know, exactly. He's also written a book called Killer Koalas from Outer Space, Butt Wars, The Final Conflict. Butt Wars.

And The Day My Butt Went Psycho. I know that book. Yeah, anyway, so, you know, if you've got a kid in your life who's around about that age. You're trying to get them to read, yeah. Yeah, perfect. Absolutely. I know because often I'd have conversations with parents about, like, I'm worried about what they're reading and whatever, and it's just like, whatever, do you Absolutely. I know because often I'd have a conversation with parents about like I'm worried

about what they're reading and whatever and it's just like whatever. Do you know what I mean? Like whatever you can do to get them reading. Yeah, absolutely because it snowballs. It doesn't matter really. Yeah, exactly. You don't make them read something, especially at a young age, that they don't want to because they could shut them down.

Yeah. I think it has to be a habit that they cultivate over time. And often it is one particular book series that kind of grabs them and then they go searching for that same experience. And I think I'm like that as an adult too. I remember there's particular books that I loved as a kid and I'd voraciously read and others that I'd just like pick up and put down. And I'm like that now where I might stumble on an author or a series of books and just. Yeah, you get very excited about that. Oh, I do.

And then I just vanish for like a day. She disappears. I do. I don't see her for weeks. Into a book. But it takes specific books. I'm looking after the kids. They're screaming, where's them?

Where's mom? And I'm like, I don't know. I'm up in a tree house reading my book. Anyway, so yeah, this is a very special series. So good for Christmas. Good for Christmas. Yes, actually, Jim Bob, I had a thought. I think this year for our Christmas specialiales,

we should do an episode of gift recommendations. Oh. For like. For Christmas for kids. Okay. And partners. Yep. And dogs. It's easy. Yeah, it's easy. All you For, okay. And partners. Yep. And dogs.

It's easy. Yeah, it's easy. All you do, you get a gift voucher. Anyway, I just think that would be fun. I think that's a great idea. Cool. All right. On with the show.

Yeah, we might have to wrap it up. I've got a review here. If you want to reach the show, just bloody send us a review and I'll read it out probably. It really helps the show and we appreciate it. This is from Kremit. Kremit? This is the Queen's Gambit. Love the podcast.

I'm an avid listener of the Weekly Planet and watcher of Caravan of Garbage. I was curious to see what this was all about when James mentioned you'd be reviewing the Queen's Gambit. I was greeted with a very fun review and loved Clay's tirade about more representative writing. I've just begun my journey as a soon-to-be-published novelist and constantly have to check whether I'm describing something like another human would.

She's absolutely right that so much is written as if the female character is being described by a man rather than being how the character would describe themselves. Anyway, enough of that. I look forward to the next episode while I watch on to see whether my country can awake from our collective nightmare. That could be any country as well. That's fun.

Yeah, what have you got, Claire? All right, so the title of this email is Thursday Therapy and a Van Gogh musical. Oh, my God. I know. So if you want to email the show. Do you have to listen like this? It's a visual. It's an audio medium.

Yeah, I know, but it's a joke just for you. Oh, that's nice. Because he cut one of his ears off. So he's listening with one ear. You can't see it, listener, but James has got his hand around his ear. How does he wear spectacles? Because wouldn't they be crooked? Oh, Lord.

All right. Can we just continue with this godforsaken nightmare of a show? Oh, there's a mosquito in my face. Don't, like, wave it away. You're going to kill it. All right. Back to it. You can email the show at testiblepod.gmail.com

with your recommendations. We would love that. This one is from Joseph Heron. Hi, Claire and James. My name is Joseph Heron and I'm a listener from the UK, currently residing in London. I'm a long-time listener of James' More Successful podcast, but I've been an avid listener of Suggestible from day one.

Thanks, mate. Like many, this pandemic has proved difficult for me, causing me to miss two of my final terms of training at drama school. Oh, boo. And it's greatly impacted my mental health as I spent two months of the UK's first lockdown living totally alone. Oh, mate. One thing that really kept me going was this podcast

and I couldn't wait for it to come out each week. Aw, thanks, mate. That's so nice. We appreciate that. Yeah, we, mate. That's so nice. We appreciate that. Yeah, we really do. We genuinely do. And therefore I've taken to dubbing the show My Thursday Therapy. Aw, mate.

Just for you. As I know both of you are somewhat fond of musicals, my recommendation is the cast recording of Starry the Musical. I love musicals and I'd never heard of this one. It's a concept album written by Kelly Lynn D'Angelo and Matt DeHaan. The musical is a pop punk retelling of key events in the life of Vincent Van Gogh. Is it goff or go? I think it's goff.

You're holding your nose. Why are you holding your nose? That's one of my best jokes It just came out so quick, so fast There was no edit there That was the speed in which I thought of and delivered that joke Sometimes you really surprise me with your wit Other times you're a total idiot I sometimes surprise myself.

I'm not as funny as Mason or as quick as Mason, but I could get there every now and then. Every now and then you come out with an old gem. Anyway, his brother Theo Van Gogh and Theo's fiancée Jo Van Gogh. Jo Van Gogh being one of the key reasons that historians know so much about Vincent today as she was responsible for the publication of the letters Vincent sent her. Ah. So I think that the Starry Musical is really worth a listen.

Now, I love Van Gogh or Van Gogh, as some might know him. I've seen some of his artwork in person, in the Louvre. No, not the Louvre. I've seen some of his artwork in person, in the Louvre. No, not the Louvre. The Museum d'Orsay. D'Orsay, yeah. Which is my favourite museum art gallery in Paris. I love that place.

Is that in the world? I've been there twice. Yeah, well, I haven't been to a lot of art galleries in the whole world. Yeah, but like. It's my favourite one I've been to so far. Fuck the Louvre. It's in an old train station. Anyway, I love it and I particularly love, I mean,

obviously I'm not alone in loving Van Gogh. I mean, that's a lot of people do. Anyway, this sounds great. Thanks, Joseph. Yeah, we really appreciate it. And if you would like to send an email, please do. Please do. There's a great episode of Doctor Who where,

because Van Gogh never knew he was, he didn't see any of his success, and where Doctor Who takes him to that museum and shows him like the work, like the paintings and how people like how well regarded he is and everything. It's amazing. It's really good. It's kind of like really cathartic but it's also like, oh, this isn't real. But it's also really nice. Oh, that would be really nice.

I know he struggled with huge mental health difficulties. Massively. He was in an era where that was just like you're crazy and that was just like the extent of it. And I think the vibrant colours of his art are based around did he have some kind of eye issue, I'm pretty sure, which is why he saw in such vivid colour. The cataracts.

Was that him? Yeah, I think it was cataracts. Yeah, or was that somebody else? You can Google it on the Google Wonder Machine. How do you spell? I wonder if anyone else finds that as funny as I. I hope so. Anyhoo, look after yourselves, guys, if you're out there in lockdown.

It's a bloody hard time. It's Monet. Monet did that. Oh, okay. No, but I'm sure Van Gogh also had something to do with his eyes. I probably did, but I'm pretty sure. Anywho. Because Zizou's like cataract paintings.

Ah, yes, yes, yes. And he's destroyed a bunch of them because he was like, what? Anyway, also send through a bloody audio file email thing. What are they called as well? They're cool, aren't they? Yes. So if you would like your voice actually on our podcast, which we would thoroughly enjoy.

So all you need to do is open up the voice memo app on your phone, record us a little message with your name and the place that you're recording to up top and your recommendation, and then email it to suggestiblepod at gmail.com. And you can do that all in your phone. What are you doing over there? I'm acting it out. Stop talking underneath me.

Okay. You're driving me bananas. Very good. Keep going. This doesn't remind me. The 13-story treehouse has a giant gorilla that keeps saying, ba-na-na. My son loves that.

He loves it so much. I love it so much. I make him laugh every time. And now whenever he's walking around the house, I just suddenly go, banana, and he just, like, loses his mind. So funny. Anyway. Yeah, send it on through.

Yeah, send it on through. We would love to hear that. If you can. Yeah, brief. And we would just love to hear your voices because it's so cool. It is so cool. And thank you for listening. All right.

See you next week. Goodbye. Goodbye. Goodbye. Banana. 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.

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