Culture Club - A Clock Gave Us Eco-Anxiety

00:00:00.000 so this is the 10th episode of culture club how exciting yay can't believe at 10 already

00:00:30.000 But Jaz and I just also wanted to mention at the top of the episode, if you've been

00:00:34.220 enjoying the podcast, maybe leave a little review on Apple Podcasts.

00:00:38.380 It will really help us out a lot.

00:00:40.500 We love compliments and it means more people can find us.

00:00:44.360 But for now, enjoy this week's episode.

00:00:50.600 We would like to acknowledge that the Wurundjeri, Turbul and Boon Wurrung people are the traditional

00:00:56.360 custodians of the land upon which we live, create and work.

00:01:00.000 We pay our respects to Elders past, present and emerging

00:01:03.880 and acknowledge that sovereignty was never ceded.

00:01:09.540 I saw on your Instagram today that you were enjoying the dulcet tones

00:01:14.700 of Miley Cyrus' iHeartRadio cover of Blondie's Heart of Glass

00:01:19.920 and I am actually obsessed.

00:01:22.180 Oh, how cool is she?

00:01:24.480 I feel like I never really appreciated the beauty and the, I know,

00:01:28.760 stop I know you're pulling your face because I know I only really appreciated Miley Cyrus in her

00:01:33.480 Hannah Montana phase but after that episode like that podcast episode that we discussed a few weeks

00:01:39.340 back she's kind of you know out and being all her Miley self and I am loving it I have loved Miley

00:01:48.180 for like more than half my life now how crazy is that I was like a Hannah Montana sedan in like

00:01:54.260 2007 and i remember when she released the climb and the hannah montana movie and then her

00:02:02.200 autobiography which was probably ghost written i've heard that it was like not her but anyway

00:02:08.060 it was like the first book that i like i finished reading it and i just took a few seconds and then

00:02:12.800 i just started it again i like turned the first page over as soon as i finished it because i was

00:02:17.300 obsessed i think i was like 13 so yeah i've loved her for a long time and this heart of glass cover

00:02:23.480 has actually made my way like I was listening to her every day oh my god she's amazing wow you're

00:02:29.180 actually a stan I didn't even know she had an autobiography but I feel like she's really coming

00:02:33.900 into her own okay you're probably gonna disagree you're probably like she's been in her own for

00:02:37.660 ages but this style and I feel like this cover just really epitomize her like rock star status

00:02:44.140 and I just saw her like on stage and I was just blown away you know you couldn't take your eyes

00:02:49.180 of her and i love the eyeshadow very euphoria vibes yes it's like 70s 80s rock glam but now

00:02:55.680 all the comments have been like when is she releasing an album full of rock covers because

00:03:00.240 this is amazing she also covered man eater by daryl hall and john oates so an 80s band not

00:03:07.420 the nelly furtado one i'm thinking i like that i just don't know i don't know the song so i'll

00:03:13.600 check it out oh there she goes oh yes she's a man jess and i are pursuing our singing careers

00:03:23.980 okay so we both are loving that what else have you been up to this week or consuming this week

00:03:33.140 well it's kind of weird because we were talking about you know i mean this is some industry talk

00:03:39.240 but we were discussing like hey what should we talk about on the podcast this week and i kind of

00:03:43.940 was not freaking out but i was quite nervous just because i was like oh my gosh so many things

00:03:49.060 happened this week so the bachelor in australia had its grand finale and the emmys was recently

00:03:55.500 on and there's all this talk about all these like really cool tv shows and whatnot that's doing the

00:04:01.880 rounds and you know everyone's having conversations about it and i feel very very very left out or

00:04:06.800 quite behind in the times and i hate this feeling just because i'm like oh when we work i guess in

00:04:12.900 the media industry where we feel like there's an obligation to be on top of it do you feel that

00:04:17.480 yeah 100 so i actually tried to watch euphoria last night because obviously zendaya what a babe

00:04:24.080 one um best leading actress in a drama series um incredible so i watched the first episode and i

00:04:32.140 can tell like it's an incredibly like produced tv show and Zendaya herself is incredible in it but

00:04:39.660 the thing is the themes were too shocking for my little baby brain like I literally had to stop

00:04:45.520 halfway first because I was freaking out and then I was like no Maggie let's do this let's finish

00:04:50.240 the episode um and I found it so I don't even know I think it was also I was watching it quite late

00:04:56.820 at night. So my emotions are heightened at night, but it deals with a lot of like drugs, violence,

00:05:03.220 teenager stuff, mental health, just like a whole bag of really intense emotions. And yeah, I feel

00:05:12.000 like I'm a very baby person. I don't really watch anything horror or anything. So it was like a lot

00:05:17.840 for me and I don't know if I can actually watch it. I don't know. Have you seen this? No, because

00:05:22.840 i haven't had a streaming service to watch on until recently so it's on my list but yeah i know

00:05:29.540 how you feel about feeling like you need to keep up with everything i think we spoke about it a

00:05:33.680 little bit last week but with euphoria i when i was like 14 i was watching skins the uk skins

00:05:40.100 which kind of touches on all those things i think euphoria is a bit more intense because it's

00:05:44.440 american and like a lot more highly produced yeah it'll be interesting to see not that they're

00:05:49.740 really comparable but I guess in like terms of drug use and alcoholism and teenage mental health

00:05:55.260 issues we'll see how I go with it but I'm also the same as you like if I don't like something I try

00:06:00.280 to not force myself to keep watching because just so you can stay in conversation I think that's a

00:06:04.340 bit pointless but I also did it myself when Schitt's Creek won like seven Emmys and I'd never

00:06:10.620 seen it before like I'd heard about it I'd heard that it's funny so I think the day after the Emmys

00:06:15.360 I started it and it's really easy to watch so if you want to like get on some Emmy pop culture

00:06:20.720 stuff do that because it's really funny episodes like 20 minutes and it's kind of like a commentary

00:06:25.180 on how ridiculous rich people are I'm so excited I heard so much good stuff about it quite interesting

00:06:31.000 because he only started winning the Emmys in its final season and apparently as you watch it each

00:06:37.280 season gets better so that's kind of cool that's something cool to look forward to after I try to

00:06:44.400 watch euphoria i had to watch three episodes of friends to kind of like calm my nerves and put me

00:06:50.720 in a nice place of familiarity and oh my god like the fashion i know that's the most hack thing like

00:06:56.980 the most cliche thing ever but the fashion it's so good i only know it from the makeup looks like

00:07:02.740 that it's famous for as well and the characters are pretty iconic i think so yeah i think i will

00:07:08.020 try um watch a couple episodes of that and just so i know who the characters are and know what

00:07:12.960 people are talking about but yeah we'll see I'm also like you in that I haven't even watched

00:07:18.020 Midsommar yet and I love Florence Pugh as most people know because apparently it's really scary

00:07:23.460 and I'm like even though she's sitting there in flowers I'm like no I can't watch a pagan ritual 0.97

00:07:28.840 something that is really nice that I did watch last night it's very wholesome a little bit corny

00:07:34.340 but super cute is Enola Holmes the new Millie Bobby Brown movie so you haven't seen this yet

00:07:41.460 have you? No, I haven't, but it's been doing the rounds on people's Instagram stories. Where did

00:07:46.280 you watch it? It's on Netflix. It's a Netflix original. So if you haven't watched it yet,

00:07:51.760 I will tell you a little bit about it without trying to spoil it too much. It is about a 16

00:07:57.100 year old girl called Enola Holmes played by Millie Bobby Brown and is set in England in about 1900.

00:08:04.220 Her mother goes missing all of a sudden. Her mom is played by Helena Bonham Carter and it's just

00:08:09.780 the two of them living in this big house in the country on her 16th birthday her mother goes

00:08:14.000 missing and she is the little sister of Sherlock Holmes iconic detective she kind of uses her

00:08:22.580 hereditary I guess detective skills to find her mum and then while she's on the journey of locating

00:08:29.940 her she comes across a young boy who is played by who we predict will be the next heartthrob

00:08:36.880 is 17 year old louis partridge and yeah they go on a great adventure together and i won't spoil

00:08:42.900 anything else but it has most amazing cast so if you have already mentioned and then sam claflin

00:08:49.780 he plays sherlock holmes brother and he's like the bad brother and it's so sad because he is

00:08:55.760 normally plays like a really good guy and like rom-coms and stuff what's he in that um um me

00:09:01.880 before you oh yeah yeah and have you seen love rosie oh yes yes have yeah love so he's always

00:09:09.340 like this really cute like english rom-com boy and he plays he's still english in this but he

00:09:14.460 plays like this kind of backward thinking um man and a politician who wants a loner to go to like

00:09:22.740 a girl's boarding school to become like an upstanding member of society and to like give

00:09:27.480 them credibility to the name and society but then Henry Cavill who is Superman and oh my god he's

00:09:34.000 so good looking but he plays Sherlock Holmes and he's kind of like an in-between like sometimes

00:09:40.180 he's good sometimes he's bad but yeah I didn't expect it to like it this much I was kind of like

00:09:45.580 I'll just see what the hype is about but it really like subverts the gender norms she's this really

00:09:51.820 strong brave character and I think she'll be a really good role model for younger girls like I

00:09:57.180 wish that this film had been around when I was a little girl because she's not a damsel in distress

00:10:02.480 she's like doing things on her own terms and like saying f you to the patriarchy basically

00:10:09.440 so it's really really good okay I'm definitely going to watch it it sounds so good um and it's

00:10:15.080 not too scary is it not at all there is a few fight scenes but I'm pretty sure it's ready

00:10:20.940 Maggie so I think you'll be fine thank you I just need a check

00:10:25.080 so someone very special and important joined instagram this week the documentary maker and

00:10:39.080 environmentalist david attenborough joined instagram and broke the instagram record for

00:10:45.040 the fastest time to reach one million followers so it only took him four hours and 44 minutes

00:10:50.920 and the previous record was held by jennifer aniston who reached a million in about five hours

00:10:56.140 i am quite happy with this because i'm i didn't even know if he was on instagram to begin with

00:11:01.520 i feel like he's very very late to the party but he's 94 years old so i'll give him a break

00:11:07.440 so today sunday he's had four posts and he's got 4.2 million followers imagine having that much

00:11:14.160 power and influence in his bio it says it's managed by the filmmakers and it says stories

00:11:19.360 from David Attenborough and the team behind A Life on Our Planet.

00:11:22.940 What are your thoughts on this?

00:11:25.200 Yeah, it's pretty cute.

00:11:26.280 I can't believe he's 94 already.

00:11:28.960 And it's like in all his captions,

00:11:31.180 it talks about David Attenborough as the third person.

00:11:34.280 So like probably the youngsters behind him

00:11:36.680 are taking control of the account.

00:11:39.180 But it's really cool to see that it's garnered

00:11:42.960 so much public support and understandable

00:11:45.200 because he's such a public face of like environmentalism.

00:11:48.020 but i was a little bit cynical um so indulge me in this i wonder what you think am i being too

00:11:54.960 mean because he's like an old man like i don't want to be mean sorry david if you're listening

00:11:59.040 um but you know lots of the comments on his first post were like wow he's the only influencer we

00:12:05.660 need and like you know social media has just become a lot more valuable um and i almost feel

00:12:11.620 like this negates some of the incredible climate activists already on instagram um i think when

00:12:17.620 people from the outside think of Instagram influencers. They might think of like Kim K

00:12:21.740 and other Jenners. I can't think of anyone else. You know, just that sort of influencer kind of 1.00

00:12:28.480 comes to mind. But I'm thinking, you know, there are heaps of great environmentalists online that

00:12:33.140 we follow. So environmentalists such as Leah Thomas, aka at Green Girl Leah, Aja Barber,

00:12:40.180 and vanicia lamana i don't know about that thought because i think that there's space for everyone on

00:12:48.780 social media and he is really well known across like multiple generations right so if this is

00:12:57.180 what gets the older generation as well to care about these climate issues um you know whether

00:13:05.920 they're on Instagram or not and then also for people who don't normally follow people like

00:13:11.920 Aja or Venetia maybe it's a bit more accessible for them as well which is like they're very late

00:13:17.620 to the party but you know not everyone's on the same journey of sustainability and being aware of

00:13:22.180 these issues so it could make it more accessible in that way like people love him he's an icon a

00:13:28.540 national treasure and if these posts that his team are putting up make people of all ages think like

00:13:35.780 okay this is a really serious issue and maybe you don't watch documentaries all the time I think

00:13:41.440 that's great yeah that is really true and you're so right about people being on their own journeys

00:13:45.820 I was just I just realized like I didn't follow any of the people I just mentioned until this year

00:13:50.580 you know so um I think it's so I don't know how to describe it I saw this great post and it's

00:13:57.260 basically like sometimes when you're on your pathway of learning especially with like

00:14:01.340 sustainability and activism or whatever it is you often forget where you started in your journey or

00:14:07.360 what you were like when you didn't like learn something so I feel like oh yes I need to always

00:14:12.180 remind myself to exercise that empathy or understanding so touché David Attenborough is

00:14:19.780 probably the most famous environmentalist of all time and nature lover of all time so

00:14:24.660 yeah I think that having him on Instagram is quite important but there has been some

00:14:30.340 very funny reactions that i have been seeing on twitter so i saw one where um the fast fashion

00:14:40.920 brand pretty little thing re-grammed the screenshot of david's instagram and was like

00:14:46.780 david attenborough is now on instagram and we're here for it with a bunch of like love heart and

00:14:52.240 animal emojis and a twitter user commented it's the fast fashion brand celebrating david attenborough's

00:14:57.980 insta page for me oh my god it's so good so tone deaf like it seems like a joke that tweet

00:15:07.120 yeah so the animal emojis they have in the comment is a ladybird an eagle a lion and a fish

00:15:15.380 i find it so funny that they basically reduce climate change to saving like some animals like

00:15:21.760 and not having that self-awareness to think about their own actions you know like oh hey

00:15:27.780 look at what you're doing to the planet yeah like save the animals but like 0.99

00:15:32.880 fuck garment workers and like all the carbon emissions that it takes to 0.99

00:15:37.000 produce their clothing and ship it all around the world for like two dollars 1.00

00:15:41.480 so it's just like they're not even trying to hide their greenwashing anymore it's just ridiculous

00:15:46.580 on the topic of climate change you may have come across the climate clock this week

00:15:52.260 so for more than 20 years in union square new york an art installation loomed over new yorkers

00:15:58.760 while it previously counted down the hours minutes and seconds to and from midnight this week it

00:16:04.300 changed to 7 103 15 12 6 that is seven years 103 days 15 hours 12 minutes six seconds which is now

00:16:16.380 even less time and it's the time we have left before climate change becomes irreversible so we

00:16:21.540 saw photos of this floating around instagram obviously because we're not in new york so the

00:16:26.720 deadline that jasmine just read out is the time we have left to take action to keep global warming

00:16:33.160 under the 1.5 degree celsius threshold so there's also a second number that they have which tracks

00:16:40.280 the percentage of the world's energy currently being run from renewable sources so basically

00:16:46.340 on their website to explain that they say simply put we need to get our lifeline to 100 percent

00:16:52.500 before our deadline reaches zero so stressful a bit of background on the 1.5 degrees it affects

00:16:59.600 everything the intergovernmental panel on climate change says we'll suffer more intense and frequent

00:17:05.680 extreme weather events and there'll be massive strain on resources ecosystems biodiversity food

00:17:11.900 security, cities and tourism. And in 2009, a UN convention on biological diversity

00:17:19.180 showed that for each degree of increase in global warming, 10% of species will be lost.

00:17:25.400 I'm currently doing a uni subject called climate change communication. So it's been really cool

00:17:30.240 learning about how the media affects the communication of climate change. And basically

00:17:35.800 when you hear 1.5 degrees, it's like, oh, that's not that bad. I don't mind if we raise 1.5 degrees

00:17:41.600 in winter but it's it's not that simple unfortunately and it has such extreme

00:17:46.880 ramifications from you know just having 1.5 degree global increase in temperature. Yeah it's pretty

00:17:54.620 scary stuff this clock didn't just pop up from the New York government it is actually an art

00:18:00.260 installation so it was created by Gan Golan and Andrew Boyd and the number is based on calculations

00:18:07.880 by an institute on global commons and climate change in berlin so this climate clock is actually

00:18:14.540 one of many there are many around the world and on their website you can actually make one for

00:18:18.400 yourself greta twinberg actually commissioned one and apparently she carries it with her wherever

00:18:23.240 she goes oh my god that's a very stressful alarm clock to have carrying in your pocket

00:18:27.780 like a ticking time bomb and i guess that's the point so there was one in berlin last year and

00:18:34.180 this installation is only supposed to be up until the end of climate week which is this weekend

00:18:39.140 but they are looking for it to stay permanently and to get them made for cities all over the world

00:18:44.300 what are your thoughts on this climate clock the doomsday clock like it's funny because i actually

00:18:50.400 don't know how i feel because there are so many pros and cons with it i think you know if i was

00:18:55.240 living near there and i had to see that every day um i would hate that because that just places

00:19:00.960 immense stress unnecessarily on people's daily lives. I feel like in our circles, climate anxiety

00:19:09.280 and eco-anxiety is something that's kind of commonly discussed, or at least, I don't know,

00:19:14.580 I've read a few articles on it. And I even saw an Australian youth mental health organization

00:19:20.880 called Reach Out did a survey that found that four in five Australian students report being

00:19:26.500 somewhat or very anxious about climate change so we already live in a state without this clock

00:19:33.620 that is worried about climate change and it is playing on our minds because you know being young

00:19:38.420 this is our future we're looking looking out for when I first saw it I was really angry because I

00:19:45.460 just thought that why are they doing this to regular people who already are dealing with

00:19:53.360 especially in the u.s they're dealing with like a crumbling government a pandemic that's killed

00:19:58.580 nearly 200 000 of their people um californian wildfires across the whole coast and now they

00:20:06.880 have to walk past a doomsday climate clock while they're just trying to like earn some money to

00:20:12.500 survive i think that instead of it being just like in a random square in new york it should be in the

00:20:19.020 offices of the corporations who are ruining the globe. It should be in, you know, the pockets of

00:20:26.260 the CEOs who are making billions of dollars and flying private jets everywhere and who are

00:20:31.400 contributing 70% of the global emissions rather than putting it back on us to like use metal

00:20:38.260 straws, you know? Yeah. And one thing we learned in my climate change class is that one of the

00:20:44.980 reasons everyday citizens aren't empowered or emboldened to take change about climate change

00:20:51.300 is because we don't know what to do. You don't know exactly how much effect your actual actions

00:20:57.160 can take. So I was thinking, like you just mentioned, 100 companies are responsible for

00:21:02.680 71% of global emissions. So I was like, why don't we put their names on that banner so people know

00:21:10.100 not to support them financially. I think it's important that we continue the conversations

00:21:15.020 that take the blame and guilt away from individuals and place that responsibility back

00:21:20.220 onto corporations. But it's sometimes hard to know how to do that as a consumer. Like

00:21:24.760 we write letters, we boycott. I still feel like that's quite difficult. I don't know,

00:21:30.060 like how does that practically look, putting that responsibility back onto businesses?

00:21:34.240 yeah exactly and i think that the only pro i can see of this clock is that maybe like my reaction

00:21:43.960 was anger so maybe it'll make people who walk past it more angry and then that will motivate

00:21:52.020 them to go out and vote and maybe confront their anxiety around climate change rather than having

00:21:58.620 an ignorance is bliss approach and like burying the head in the sand which we all do because

00:22:03.960 eco-anxiety is a really big deal especially for younger people it's hard because the systems are

00:22:09.440 kind of working against like the working class I can see what they want the reaction to be I just

00:22:15.500 don't know if putting it onto innocent people going about the day is like the best way to do it

00:22:20.280 so Stephen Ross is the developer of the building that the clock is sitting on and he said the

00:22:26.040 climate clock will remind the world every day just how perilously close we are to the brink

00:22:30.420 and this initiative will encourage everybody to join us in fighting for the future of our planet

00:22:36.280 i get so i think they're trying to mobilize people and trying to like i don't know make people stand

00:22:43.700 up to like the one percent or something but why can't the one percent just like do the right thing

00:22:49.120 like pay taxes cut down their carbon emissions and like who cares about money when the world

00:22:54.120 is going to die who cares when like your skyscraper is going to be underwater in 50 years you know

00:23:00.440 they like don't care because they'll be dead by then and it just really really makes me angry

00:23:05.700 if you can't tell there's no business on a dead planet you know you're making me angry you're

00:23:12.760 like i i know not you but but you're what you're saying is really resonating with me and it is

00:23:18.980 kind of firing me up because it is not our responsibility to what like babysit these

00:23:24.120 companies and pressuring them to be better i feel like that's so unfair there was a post going around

00:23:29.500 that i saw a few of our friends were sharing this week that was something like um don't put more

00:23:35.560 guilt on individual people than you do companies did you see that yes it was talking about how we

00:23:42.400 hold we usually hold individuals at a higher point of accountability than we do corporations i mean

00:23:48.660 it links with council culture and I think it's very easy to have a very tangible physical target

00:23:53.560 of one human being when you can see all their flaws but for some reason we don't do that with

00:23:58.200 brands I was on the phone to my friend Hannah the other day and she was in a similar mindset like

00:24:03.780 especially during the pandemic like she's just so angry at these corporations and it's like why am I

00:24:09.060 eating vegetarian why am I like bringing my tote bag to go shopping when they're just ruining the

00:24:14.640 planet anyway and like it doesn't matter what I do when it's these massive corporations who are

00:24:20.500 like destroying everything and I was like totally know where you're coming from but if everyone had

00:24:26.440 the attitude as well of like it doesn't matter what I do because these 100 companies are ruining

00:24:31.940 the earth then we'd be in an even worse position so I think it's still important to keep up your

00:24:38.240 like individual level of trying to be more sustainable buying locally instead of getting

00:24:43.380 stuff shipped from overseas and cutting down on you know xyz cutting down on your meat but it's

00:24:49.180 just definitely something to keep in the back of your mind especially when we see art like this

00:24:53.360 and this countdown clock that like you can only do so much as an individual i feel like for gen z

00:24:58.920 especially and like millennials we have the weight of the literal world on our shoulders because the

00:25:04.580 world is dying on our watch and like we're gonna have kids and grandkids into this planet and it's

00:25:12.120 on us, it feels like it's on us to be responsible for it. And it's like, no, why aren't these

00:25:16.700 companies full of like seven-year-old CEOs not doing anything about the world that they're

00:25:21.060 leaving for their children and grandchildren as well? I kind of brought up that point as well

00:25:24.980 in class. I got angry and I was like, why aren't we looking at baby boomers and people that are 0.95

00:25:29.540 older than us and looking at what they've done? And one of my teachers pointed out that they 0.56

00:25:35.420 didn't grow up with this at the forefront of their minds. They were told, they were sold that

00:25:40.520 fallacy that you know oh big oil is good and we're going to have enough resources for everybody and

00:25:47.720 you know it's a time of growth whatever so they've had to learn and unlearn things as well

00:25:53.680 I think which makes it just very difficult I think if you're told one thing and then told

00:25:58.220 the complete opposite that's hard to come to terms with it as well yeah because those companies have

00:26:03.960 been pushing propaganda for like decades and then now they're trying to greenwash everything but it

00:26:10.240 really upsets me when you read or hear stories of studies that were brought out in like the 70s

00:26:16.440 and 80s about climate change and global warming. Like my parents were children. Now I'm an adult

00:26:21.540 and like nothing has been done. That just makes me so furious. So while the message of the clock

00:26:27.040 is undeniably important, having it loom over regular people every day, trying to just go

00:26:33.980 about their lives is wrong jasmine tell me what have you been consuming this week my recommendation

00:26:46.700 for this week is another podcast and another podcast by the cut another podcast about rich

00:26:53.160 people which is kind of what i spoke about two weeks ago i'm on a theme here but this one is

00:26:57.820 really really good so it talks about the difference between envy and jealousy and how there's been a

00:27:04.320 lot of envy during quarantine and lockdown like if you're working from home that means that you

00:27:09.360 still had your job if you were looking after your kids it means that you had company and you weren't

00:27:14.280 living alone things like that and then it kind of moves into us being envious of each other but

00:27:20.060 then realizing how ridiculous celebrities have been during this time so of course it talks about

00:27:26.460 infamous Imagine song and Ellen complaining about feeling like a prisoner in her massive mansion 0.95

00:27:32.640 and how so many actions by celebrities have been incredibly tone deaf this year yet we're still

00:27:38.940 fascinated by them. Have you listened to this? I actually did listen to this and I feel bad

00:27:43.380 because I was multitasking while I was listening so I actually didn't enjoy it that much. I kind

00:27:49.080 of came out of it being like oh like what what points did I like leave with? I was a little bit

00:27:54.820 lost but I think that might have just been like how I listened to it. Yeah well I had to listen

00:27:59.640 to it I listened to it once really enjoyed it and then listened to it again today to kind of

00:28:03.800 remember the point so I guess they aren't that like hard hitting but they're kind of just

00:28:07.700 interesting so The Cut interviews Molly Young who is a literary critic for New York magazine

00:28:13.040 and she asked the questions why do we want to keep looking at rich people whether that's through

00:28:18.440 envy or through fascination so she tells a few interesting stories but the one that stood out

00:28:23.700 the most for me was the story about the pineapples. So in 18th century Europe, pineapples were like

00:28:30.920 the it item, the it fruit. And if you wanted one, you had to get someone to sail across to

00:28:36.740 the new world to get it for you. And so it became really popular. But by the time you got them back

00:28:43.920 to Europe, they'd spent two months at sea and they were all moldy and probably fermented,

00:28:49.080 but people still wanted them not to eat but to display at their dinner parties and then when

00:28:54.920 the party was over they would like give the pineapple to another friend and they'd pass

00:28:59.600 around over and over until it like turned to mush so she has done a lot of research and tell

00:29:06.500 some funny stories like that and then the podcast also interviews Kevin Kwan who's the author of

00:29:12.080 Crazy Rich Asians and how this year he actually wanted to postpone the publishing of his new book

00:29:18.900 because it's about insanely rich people and obviously it's been a really hard year for so

00:29:25.760 many people but his book sales were still really high because no matter what is going on in the

00:29:31.940 world for hundreds of years we've still been obsessed with celebrity and want the escapism 0.83

00:29:37.360 and the envy I guess of like wanting to be like them even if we think they're ridiculous. I really 0.85

00:29:44.620 enjoyed it I think it is something you might have to focus on a bit more not because it's like heavy

00:29:49.780 but just because it's quite like it links really quickly to each different conversation I guess

00:29:55.200 yeah I think celebrity culture and luxury has always been sought after all throughout history

00:30:02.180 all in different cultures as well I think it is changing and like evolving quite a bit in our

00:30:07.740 like technologically driven age where you know normal people can be celebrities in a way now

00:30:13.560 through social media. And yeah, it is really interesting looking at it through the lens of

00:30:18.920 like 2020, especially when we're all in a pandemic. So it's interesting to hear that his book is doing

00:30:23.360 really well, but I don't blame him because I think I want a bit of escapism too.

00:30:29.920 And what have you been reading, watching, loving this week, Mags?

00:30:33.460 So I finished the book, The Space Between by Michelle Andrews and Zara McDonald.

00:30:38.000 and i'm pretty sure most of our listeners will know the podcast shameless um if you don't

00:30:44.560 i doubt there's anyone out there but basically it is an australian pop culture podcast they are

00:30:51.200 probably one of australia's most successful podcasts would you say yeah so they have written

00:30:55.760 their first book together and it is basically a guide to being in your 20s and it covers topics

00:31:00.900 like friendships, health complications, family breakdowns and work culture. So a really nice

00:31:08.060 I guess mixture of different stories. I'll read out a bit of the blurb just so you can kind of

00:31:13.360 get a feel for the tone and what they speak about I guess. There's this weird gap in life that's

00:31:19.260 fueled by cheap tacos and even cheaper tequila also known as our 20s. It's a specific limbo

00:31:26.020 between being a teenager and a proper adult and though it's wildly confusing, often lonely,

00:31:32.120 sometimes embarrassing and frequently daunting, there's also a whole lot of magic to be found in

00:31:37.540 the chaos. It's a time when we're finding our own voices, cementing our relationships and starting to

00:31:43.560 fulfill our big ambitions or simply just working out what they are. So you can kind of get the vibe

00:31:50.160 from that little intro. I was a little bit skeptical when I first received it so I was

00:31:54.460 definitely looking forward to this for ages but when I first received it um you know it's a super

00:31:59.560 fun bio and then when you kind of flick through there's lots of like graphics like illustration

00:32:05.460 as well as a few like scribbles like some hand-drawn stars and love hearts so I felt like

00:32:10.780 it was quite useful um that was my first impression just visually I guess so I was like oh is this

00:32:16.840 going to be more of a read or just like a like kind of like a workbook or something like where

00:32:21.380 fill in stuff yeah kind of I think I thought it yeah I thought it was less of a novel and more of

00:32:29.020 like just like a very very fun read but actually I was really pleasantly surprised I hadn't really

00:32:35.700 read Michelle or Zara's writing before I really enjoyed their podcast it was a really fun read

00:32:41.300 so do you know I haven't had this feeling since like being a teenager do you know when you're like

00:32:46.320 super in deep into like a YA rom-com book and like you just think about it all the time and

00:32:52.740 you want to read it all the time like that beautiful feeling right and I had that all

00:32:57.000 throughout reading this book it was so enjoyable and they really inject their voices and their

00:33:01.460 personal experiences into each story which I think made it so enjoyable I really resonated

00:33:07.800 especially with Zara's writing I feel like we have a very similar perspective on some things

00:33:12.040 like work culture and ambition. So that was really, really, really nice to read. I definitely

00:33:18.280 did feel seen in a lot of the essays. One, I guess, negative I had was, you know, it was a

00:33:24.920 quite a bit heteronormative, but I totally understand that because I was speaking from

00:33:29.480 their experiences. They actually acknowledge it. They're two white, straight, cis women. So they

00:33:35.660 can only, I guess, speak on what they know, but I love this and I'm going to pass it around to a

00:33:40.260 few of my friends. It's a very fun and enjoyable book with some like hard hitting stories in

00:33:45.380 between. That's the first review I've heard of it, even though it's, I think it's on the best

00:33:50.900 seller list now. So amazing work from the girls. I was actually walking in Brisbane the other 0.99

00:33:59.360 morning and saw a girl about my age walking past carrying the book. And it was kind of like a

00:34:03.940 moment of like, oh, you listen to it too. Like, I don't know. I really like moments like that,

00:34:08.040 where it feels like you're part of a club or something so yeah I would love to read that

00:34:11.900 soon if you're back in Melbourne I'll give it to you yeah one day one day so that's all we have

00:34:20.040 time for today but thank you so much for listening we hope you enjoyed this episode

00:34:25.720 and we will catch you next week bye

Culture Club - September 28, 2020

A Clock Gave Us Eco-Anxiety

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