Real honest opinions about what to hit and what to miss: TV, Movies, and Books.
Have anyone else’s favourite shows all ended in the last couple of weeks? Succession, Ted Lasso, Vanderpump Rules – don’t judge me, I only started watching it for #scandoval. If you don’t know what that means, that’s honestly nothing to be ashamed of. I got into Succession late and binge-watched it when I was stuck in bed for a week. I was as gripped by the final season as everyone else. Am I the only person who thinks the kids are better off without Waystar?
Here are a few shows and books I’ve enjoyed lately and one to miss.
Hit: Platonic (Apple TV)
Starring Rose Byrne and Seth Rogan as two forty-something friends who reconnect after their lives took different paths. This show is low on complication but high on the laughs. As someone who has had many male platonic friends over the years, many of whom I would often have drunken outings with, a slew of in-jokes, and generally hanging around making fun of other people we knew. This show is very accurate of such debauchery. Although I’ve never accidentally snorted a horse tranquilizer (not that I know of). Sounds juvenile, and it is, and I love it. 5 stars.
Hit: The Pharmacist (Netflix)
A four-part Netflix series, easily binged in one night. Documentary exploring the opioid crisis of the early 2000s (to now) in lower-middle-class America. One man against the system. Following the death of his son when he is shot in a drug deal gone wrong, a pharmacist sets out to solve the murder and prosecute the murderer after the police fail to act. Once solved, he then turns his attention to the opiate problem and doctors working in ‘pill mills’. Really enjoyed the “if nobody else will fix it, I will” mentality and the lengths he went to to make a difference in his community. 4.5 stars.
Hit: Before the coffee gets cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi (novel)
I saw this novel everywhere online about a year ago, but when I went to buy it I read the back of the book and didn’t like the idea of it:
“It tells of a café in Tokyo that allows its customers to travel back in time, as long as they return before their coffee gets cold”
Time Travel. Weird. See also: not my thing. BUT WAIT. This is a beautifully written book, offering 4 short stories of kindness and love all intertwined and set within a small old Japanese coffee shop. It’s a short book, with short stories meaning you can read just a snippet a day. I borrowed it from the library. Worth a read. 4.5 stars.
Miss: The Triangle of Sadness (movie, Binge) I did not love this. I did not even like this. But did I watch the whole movie, whilst thinking about how terrible it was? Yes. The mega-rich (and the quite obnoxious) go on an uber-rich luxury cruise and treat those ‘below’ them terribly. The only scene I enjoyed was watching an influencer and her male model boyfriend fight over who was paying for dinner. 0.5 stars.
The basic premise of this show is um, ahhhh, okay I admit I have no idea what the purpose of this show is. It follows a group of early 20s aspiring singers/models/fashion designers/influencers as they go about their everyday lives doing *important stuff* and making the rest of the world want to be them. Every week one of the glitterati holds an event to launch a product or their brand, show their art or heal the vibrational energy of the group where the group is the entire audience. Dress code strictly white linen and g-string bikinis. The group’s maturity level matches that of a Year 8 PE class. Conversation revolves around calling each other ‘fake’ through faces of lip filler, botox and boob jobs.
In the first episode, we meet the gang, specifically Sarah (aspiring musician from the dreaded glitzy/gaudy/trashy Gold Coast) and Jade (a male influencer from the glamorous/fabulous Gold Coast), are treated completely differently. As Sarah is treated as ‘fresh meat’ by the guys, the girls all talk about how ‘trashy’ she is and how the guys can do better. Meanwhile, Jade is welcomed by the whole gang because he’s not a threat to stealing any of the guys’ attention away from the girls.
Sarah is interested in Nathan but is worried he’s a ‘fuckboi’ (promiscuous man about town), at the end of the series she leaves town, shocked to discover that apparently he is said fuckboi and has had a thing with his flatmate. Sarah do you not ever I don’t know, Google anyone? Cue: Nathan’s history of being a ‘reality star’ – The Bachelorette and Bachelor in Paradise or Love Island or MAFS or Great Australian Bake Off, honestly I really don’t care.
Credit: Netflix
Elle throws a fundraiser to “Save the Oceans”. WOW. I wondered how she was going to save 70% of the earth’s surface by inviting 10 friends to a party, but then she wheeled out a lifesize 3D sculpture of herself where the other ‘influencers’ could plant pieces of coral in plastic tubes to dump somewhere in the ocean and apparently regenerate the entire Great Barrier Reef. Like the planet hasn’t suffered enough.
The intelligence level of the show can be summed up with this sentence, “Alex has a bigger vocabulary than me, he must’ve gone to year 12”.
And that ladies and gentlemen is why I don’t want to go back to Byron Bay ever now.
If I were on a quiz show, the late 90s and early 2000s Australian alternate music might be my topic. It’s the music I grew up, listened to while I was studying at the end of high school, through uni and beyond. TripleJ hottest 100 playlists are still my go-to now when I’m doing endless hours of online assignment research or I’m in the car driving further than my 10km radius.
So how have I been filling the time during lockdown? With uni on break and it being the depths of dreary winter, I’ve been binge-watching tv shows, many many tv shows, Mare of Easttown? One night. Alone Season 6? One night. Long Way Up? One Night. Reading books, listening to podcasts, plus a lot of extra time grocery shopping, looking through every aisle even though I only need bread, milk and as always Diet Coke.
Without further adieu, here are a few things that are in my humble opinion well worth checking out.
Watching
The Secret Life of Us premiered in 2001, a tv show about a group of mid 20s friends living in the same apartment block in St Kilda, Melbourne. I loved this show when I was 22-ish. I desperately wanted to live in St Kilda right there with them. They were young, single, cool and were played by great actors (Claudia Karvan, Samuel Johnson, Deborah Mailman, Abi Tucker). Well written storylines addressed real issues (unwanted pregnancies, coming out, heartbreak, unexpected grief, dealing with the aftermath of making poor decisions). With at least 22 episodes per season of old fashioned long-form tv (where you had to wait a week to see what happened next), there is plenty here to keep you going. Honestly, I would only watch Seasons 1, 2 and 3. Season 4 was almost completely re-cast and lost the chemistry of the previous seasons. Oh and did I mention, that the show has an absolutely kick-ass late 90’s early 2000s alternative Australian music soundtrack
Claudia Karvan, Deb Mailman and Samuel Johnson from Secret Life of Us
Reading
I sometimes choose books by the cover which is not a very intellectual way to choose books, but I also choose wine the same way. Even though that has resulted in having had to drink what tastes like cooking vinegar in this case, I got it totally right. This novel…… I read it in two sittings, all within 24 hours and almost did not stop. Well written by Liam Pieper, it is easy to read a punchy story of light, shade, love, scams, drugs and exotic locations. It’s not the easiest to find in bookshops, but I did find it in the local library, it is also available online. Get a copy, share it around. I really loved it. It also had a great cliffhanger ending which I won’t spoil except to say that it is a cracker.
I haven’t read many books (apart from textbooks and journal articles) this year, but one book I really enjoyed wasThings I Learned from Falling by Claire Nelson. I also heard a brilliant podcast on ABC Conversations about her story. On a holiday in Joshua Tree she went for a hike out to the Lost Palms Oasis, only she didn’t quite make it, accidentally missing a trail marker, she wandered off the trail and fell 20ft down a rock face, smashing her pelvis. Nobody knew she was on the hike. It is the story of how she managed to keep her composure long enough to be rescued. She also gives us little insights into her life before the accident and the long recovery process following. As a hiker and a single gal I really loved this book.
Listening to
It’s ironic that I’m about to recommend a podcast about recommendations. Bang On is a weekly 30 minute-ish ABC podcast from Myf Warhurst (Spicks and Specs, ex Triple J) and Zan Rowe (Double J). Bang-On reviews pop culture of the last week, and gives recommendations on film, tv, music, books all with an alternative flavour.
New episodes drop each Friday and can be found here.
Women could rule the world. Women should rule the world. Women will hopefully rule the world before the end of my lifetime, but maybe not. Even an equal share in the leadership and the same pay would be a start.
The last few weeks I’ve been a little despondent about whether a change will actually occur, whether the glass ceiling is actually made of glass or whether it’s made of boiling hot lava. There is no doubt that women have come a long way, but it is no longer about just having rights and it’s now about being treated with respect as a fellow human being. This doesn’t seem to be happening in our country and it is demoralising to see that even our own government doesn’t care about it.
I thought today I would share some stories from my own career, a career that until the last few years has been in male-dominated industries, and you would like to think this kind of thing doesn’t happen but it did, up until recently, to me. I am so lucky that I get to work where I work now, where nothing even remotely like this has happened.
I was told to keep my legs together and not get pregnant as my boss didn’t want to pay for me to sit at home doing ‘nothing’.
I was made to work more hours/days per week than my male counterparts to ‘prove my worth’.
When I didn’t agree with a course of action, I was asked if it was because I had my period. Stating, “my wife gets cranky when she has hers, so I thought you had yours as well”.
I bent down to tie my shoelace and when I looked up the person I was walking with had taken out his penis and was dangling it in front of my face, with a lovely “while you’re down there…..” comment.
I was called a ‘skinny cow’ in front of a room full of men who all laughed at the joke and when I got upset told me to ‘lighten up’.
I was harassed relentlessly to tell the details to a group of much older men on how I lost my virginity.
I was told to “wear a short skirt and heels” to a job interview.
A colleague who I was asking to help me with something told me I could pay with my “hairy cheque book”.
I got offered money for sex. “Can’t you just pretend you don’t know me and I could pay you”.
I got called a “stupid fucking bitch” by a male supervisor in front of the site manager by a colleague, my HR complaint was dismissed.
Australia has a long way to go. Especially if you are a woman.
I’d read reliably on the internet that there was a tiger snake that liked to ‘protect’ the toilet block. Luckily for me when out alone in the bush, I like to employ the “bush-wee” system and don’t even use a toilet block. So suck on that tiger snake.
There was no tiger snake guarding the toilet block, nor the camp site, nor the river banks, nor the picnic tables. In fact, I didn’t see a single snake. Probably because I was wearing my massive knee length gaiters and was carrying two hiking poles.
As with most trips in the Blue Mountains, the trip started up high, on the plateau, but only 500m from the carpark the descent started and continued down, down, down, through the swine gate, down, down further and did not stop until I reached camp about 8km away. My toes were sore, I was hot, too hot, and my ankles developed some kind of heat rash from the socks, boots, gaiters, heavy pack combined with mid-summer Australian hiking.
I got to the campsite and there was not another single soul there, heaven. I picked a camping spot that had 1) shade, 2) views, 3) Next to the creek, 4) a picnic table, 5) mown grass so I could spot any snakes. That was until dusk when literally 20 other groups of people decided to join the party. Many of which were lining up my campsite as a potential site. I sat at the picnic table watching the view but really not so passive-aggressively giving the evil eye to anyone looking to set up their tent right next to mine.
I got talking to one couple as I was letting them know about an awesome *other* campground (read: away from me) that was located just past the “caution: asbestos” sign. They could not believe that I was there on my own. I mean what was I going to do all evening? Wasn’t I going to be bored? Have I got a good book? As they left she said “I hope you make some friends”. What do you say back to that? “What are you talking about, all my friends are here, you can’t see them?”
A lullabye of half a dozen wild dogs howling at one another not far from camp was quite a relaxing way to drift off to sleep. I kept thinking about whether I should put my shoes inside the tent? Would wild dogs come and take them to chew on in the middle of the night, would I wake up to the toilet keeper tiger snake curled up keeping warm inside?
I woke at the butt crack of dawn. 5 am. After I heard chewing of grass in the vicinity of my head. 90% certain it was Kangaroo. 5% chance of wombat. 5% chance of it being a wild dog actually chewing on my shoes. Given the heat of the day before, my strange ankle rash and that I had an 8km all uphill hike, I opted to be out by 7am. I am never up by 7am. Never. Especially on a Sunday.
It took 3.5 hours to get back up all the hills. I allow myself to stop as many times as I want, but honestly, after a while, you do find a rhythm and just keep going, albeit slowly. Only being passed by one other hiking group, I was pretty pleased with my hill climbing efforts. I came across 4 hikers going opposite to me, towards the camp. Jokingly they told me my massive pack meant that I must be carrying too much extra stuff. Once I explained that I was on my own and that meant I had to carry everything myself, and not divide it up between a group of 4, they nodded, quietly continuing on their way.
I wonder if they met the tiger snake at the toilet block.
It’s just taken me about 14 days to write this blog post. It’s been open and chipped away at for two weeks. Every time I start, I stop. Or lose my trail of thought. Or you know, find something else to do. Doesn’t bode well for the rest of the year, considering I was thinking I should have ‘focus’ as my word for the year.
Like the rest of the world I kind of knew everything wouldn’t magically get better when the calendar flicked over to 2021, but damn weren’t we all HOPING it would. Speaking of calendars, if you need to save some cash you can reuse an old 2010 as the days and dates finally line up. Dig through those old desk drawers.
It’s easy to focus on what a shit-show 2020 was. Fires, floods, plague, COVID, isolation, loneliness, online uni group work. COVID has been awful. People are sick, dying and fighting over the last roll of toilet paper and can of spam. We’ve seen the worst in humanity and let’s face it ourselves. Face masks are not a good look on anyone. At the post office this morning (wearing a cap, sunnies and face mask) I got called “gentleman” as in “let the gentleman go first”. Note to self: I really need to pluck my 4 stubborn neck pube/chin hairs. COVID needs to go.
However, what if instead of focusing on the bad news and mental toughness that 2020 brought with it what if we look for the slight tiny pieces of good news and celebrate:
Trump won’t be President for the next 4 years.
People are starting to recognise the climate crisis, it’s getting some momentum. There has been a big acceleration in countries and businesses making climate commitments.
Africa is now free of polio.
More people turned to health, vegetable gardening, and prioritising family time.
People showed empathy, a sense of community.
We collectively S-L-O-W-E-D down a bit.
We explored our neighbourhoods and went on holidays in our own states.
Workers are getting the job done even at home. Business continued efficiently, productively and with higher engagement.
Personally, I reached my goal of a full half study load, if that makes sense – 4 subjects completed with distinction. I even managed to not lose my shit at group work online. Fun fact: I loathe group work. For one subject this year I was sitting on 92% (well into high distinction territory), but after a group assignment that got 55% I ended up just scraping into the bottom end of a distinction. I could write a whole post separately on it. My goals for this year are the same to complete 4 subjects, give myself a break, stop hating myself so much and try to focus.
