Culture Club - Extra Terrestrial

00:00:00.000 Matilda Jurf has been called out again, Katy Perry went to space and how the White Lotus

00:00:11.560 flips the script on toxic friendship. I'm Maggie Zhao and I'm Jasmine Wallace and you're listening

00:00:17.060 to Culture Club where we chat about pop culture, current affairs, the internet and our lives.

00:00:22.640 Today we're on the lands of the Wurundjeri, Woiwurrung people of the Kulin Nations

00:00:32.160 We would like to pay our respects to Elders past and present

00:00:35.800 and extend this to any Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander listeners today

00:00:43.840 Big news! We're in a new space, aren't we, Jazz?

00:00:48.260 It's so funny to be sitting directly across from you in these big armchairs

00:00:52.220 Yes, we have exciting announcement. We are actually with a new podcasting network.

00:00:58.480 Yes, the One Daydream Network and we're so excited. You're going to be hearing some new

00:01:03.260 segments, some new guests, some new voices. It's all happening and we're so excited to be

00:01:07.840 taking Culture Club to the next level. We're going to have some new voices on the pod and

00:01:14.560 today we're going to introduce you to a couple of the people working behind the scenes with us.

00:01:19.220 Hello. Hi, who are these mysterious voices on the other microphone?

00:01:24.540 I'm Kitsch and I'm going to be executive producing Culture Club. So I'll be a little

00:01:28.860 bit more behind the scenes. Hopefully you won't have to hear too much of my voice,

00:01:32.540 but I'm so excited to be helping you guys working on the show. I've been a long time

00:01:37.320 listener. So this is super exciting for me. Well, some background lore as well. Like Kitsch

00:01:42.060 and I have been friends maybe since like 2018 or something. And throughout the years on Culture

00:01:46.480 Club her name gets many mentions we like our friend Kitsch so this is Kitsch and next to

00:01:53.020 Kitsch we've got Blake. Hi ladies so good to see you again. I know so nice to see you. So a bit of

00:01:59.940 context here I actually used to produce on Culture Club many moons ago I actually found

00:02:06.480 you girls in like the depths of COVID when I had no friends to gossip about so I was like

00:02:11.080 I need friends on a podcast and just talk about internet stuff we're pretty aligned hey yeah I

00:02:17.740 know it's a really nice meeting of the minds you know the gangs back together almost in a way

00:02:22.180 yeah it really is like a full circle moment so Blake and I are so excited to have you with One

00:02:26.900 Day Dream and yeah I'm just so honored and privileged to be here at the recording for

00:02:31.940 listeners at home as well like yes we've got some new things coming your way but don't you worry

00:02:36.620 culture club at its core is still us you know we're going to be talking and dissecting internet

00:02:41.820 culture and things that are happening in the week it's everything that you know and love

00:02:45.320 but dare I say we're going to be elevated and we're going to have some changes yeah yeah and

00:02:49.820 we're so excited so let's get into it well girls I've obviously missed a lot so fill me in what's

00:02:55.420 been happening I am actually drawing a blank on like anything I've done recently I've spent a lot

00:03:00.100 of time with my family on the weekend which was lovely and then just like lots of squeezing in

00:03:05.400 work here and there like a jigsaw puzzle I mean we've got all the like public holidays coming up

00:03:10.480 so I'm keen to just like get into some like creative projects but what about you Max I saw

00:03:15.160 your TikTok last night and I really loved it it was about um how you're trying to be

00:03:20.460 bad at being a beginner yes I think it really resonated with a lot of people yeah well this

00:03:25.560 is the thing this is my energy I'm bringing to this year I'm trying to be good at being not good

00:03:30.960 at things so over the weekend I did a sewing workshop with Tom it was both our first time

00:03:36.960 on the sewing machine and that was really fun and we made a tote bag but there was a time in there

00:03:41.500 where I got so stressed out and I was like honestly on the verge of tears but it was so fun and then

00:03:47.600 to that same note I went to a dance class yesterday dare I say it was a beginner's dance class but it

00:03:53.300 was not beginner friendly um it was so hard and again in the first 15 minutes I was almost like

00:03:58.620 should I leave like this is really hard but I pushed through and it was fun but really hard so

00:04:04.700 yeah that's what I'm trying to do more of this year I'm so proud of you recovering perfectionist

00:04:09.360 recovering perfectionist yeah I don't like agree with a label perfectionist anymore and I feel

00:04:14.200 like I've moved past that but it's still I'm in remission it's so hard though like once you put

00:04:19.120 a label on yourself to like shed that but it's important you're growing now let's get into the

00:04:24.420 culture chit chat first things first I need to talk about Coachella I've never had FOMO about

00:04:30.960 Coachella before like in years gone by I'm always like oh yeah whatever like some big American

00:04:34.280 festival this year though I was sitting on my couch on like a Sunday afternoon and I literally

00:04:39.420 nearly had tears in my eyes seeing the Charlie XCX set and everyone coming out I was like oh my god

00:04:45.800 I want to be there so bad and I saw Charlie at Laneway like I saw Troy in November but I still

00:04:51.400 that jealousy of like this looks epic who was like your standout performer that she brought out

00:04:57.700 i think billy yes yeah the breakdown of guests i was like goosebumps well for me seeing a lord up

00:05:05.540 there oh my god incredible i think it's something that like everyone who's seen charlie over the

00:05:11.900 last year has been hoping that she would bring out lord and like of course it's for co-tella

00:05:15.540 but charlie truly was like bringing out all the feature artists on the stage like it was her own

00:05:21.800 avengers it's funny that you say that because it kind of reminded me of taylor's era where she had

00:05:27.260 a girl gang but like the gay girl gang kind of vibes and like the party girl gang rather than

00:05:34.460 all the supermodels although there were the supermodels in the crowd doing the apple dance

00:05:38.100 oh my god yeah that was iconic when i was like doing some research for this episode i was like

00:05:42.920 just typing away I was like headliner charlie xx and I was like wait I need to check myself like

00:05:46.160 was she actually headlining and I realized she wasn't she also wore a sash at the after party

00:05:50.580 it was a sash that was like should have been a headliner and I think that is like perpetuating

00:05:55.040 the kind of battle of the generations she's killing it but I think interesting to kind of 0.96

00:06:01.920 play on that and like yeah I should have been a headliner like obviously she like dominated the

00:06:07.500 discourse of the last year but Green Day has been around for like a good 20-25 years and they are

00:06:14.260 also really influential and really political like really of the moment at the moment with all the

00:06:18.060 MAGA stuff going on so I think they also have a right to be headliners. What do you think Mags?

00:06:21.780 I mean no one can say that Charlie isn't leaning into her brat roots like that sash is pure brat 0.99

00:06:27.420 energy and I love that. The other Coachella moment we have to talk about because you sent me the 0.99

00:06:32.320 videos and I was just dying every time I saw them were Kylie and Timothy coupling up booed up

00:06:38.940 together. I know oh my gosh yeah I sent you that on TikTok I think on the weekend because I was

00:06:44.760 just shocked that I was seeing it with my own eyes like they look so happy together you know

00:06:49.460 they've been together for nearly three years now. Stop long-term relationship. Have I gone so fast?

00:06:54.240 Oh my god the thing that I think more people should be giving them grief for is like his

00:07:00.100 backpack that he's wearing and all the kissy kissy videos it's like so high up and and he's 0.68

00:07:05.240 got like his sonny's on and I think he's got a hat on and he just looks like the teenage boys I went

00:07:10.820 to high school with I think one of the interesting things about Coachella is that it feels like one

00:07:16.820 of the only festivals in the world maybe like Lollapalooza or something it's kind of similar

00:07:20.680 but like one of the main festivals where a list like a Kylie Jenner a Hailey Bieber can walk

00:07:26.620 around the festival they probably have security close by they're probably in VIP sections but like 0.94

00:07:31.160 they're pretty close to the general public like hence why we got that footage of them kissing

00:07:36.300 yeah they're literally walking in the same space as like Australian influencers like Zofa Dofa

00:07:41.380 Jackie Alexander Riley it's so great to see Australian influencers popping off at Coachella

00:07:47.640 I feel like they're taking over my for you pages but it feels like they're going to that next level

00:07:51.800 which we haven't really seen like Australian influencers do as often in the past like really

00:07:57.320 on the global stage like you can be big as an influencer in Australia for sure be really

00:08:02.000 successful but like to be with other usually US influencers on that level I think feels like

00:08:09.220 a new era for a lot of these Aussie girls oh yeah to me it feels kind of jarring I'm like wait what 1.00

00:08:15.160 do you mean they're there like I'm looking at the footage and I'm like my brain doesn't compute 1.00

00:08:18.860 because I'm like I know these girls from like you know down the street by the way not to not to name

00:08:24.060 drop but Jackie used to listen to our podcast she said I mean don't know if it's a compliment or not

00:08:29.240 I'm going to take it as a compliment but she said it was soothing to fall asleep to this was a few

00:08:34.460 years ago guys don't quote me on it some other big chit chat news was that Lorde has dropped a teaser

00:08:41.960 of her new single WWT I mean it seems like the chorus says what was that so I'm like is the song

00:08:47.860 What was that or WWT?

00:08:49.080 Because I need to know what WWT stands for.

00:08:52.060 Yeah, what was that?

00:08:53.460 What was that?

00:08:55.280 Oh, my God, my brain, it really struggles with letters sometimes.

00:08:58.320 We got there.

00:08:58.960 We got there.

00:08:59.580 Okay, cool.

00:09:00.540 Because, yes, finally after Solar Power,

00:09:03.240 we're going to get some new music from Lord

00:09:05.440 and I'm, like, just hanging by a thread waiting for it.

00:09:09.140 I can't wait.

00:09:10.040 One thing that's grinding my gears is that everyone's like,

00:09:13.680 Lord Summer or, like, thank God Lord is back.

00:09:16.960 Like, I miss her.

00:09:17.860 guys she released solar power okay she can have a guess what jazz seasons come back every year

00:09:23.300 it's lord summer again again let's say yeah yeah but i'm on the side of tiktok where it's like 0.50

00:09:28.880 a bit gatekeepy you know that when i was 17 i sound like such a wanker right now but when i

00:09:34.700 was 17 i listened to lord on soundcloud because she hadn't even released a single yet that's

00:09:39.380 how far back i go you're literally the gatekeeper yeah but solar power was released in 2021 and to

00:09:45.900 be honest loads of people have mixed reactions about it because you know we were locked down

00:09:50.520 and everyone's like why is she having fun in a yellow dress yeah true when I do re-listen to it

00:09:56.120 actually makes me feel a bit nauseous because of like the lockdown trauma I was just like cycling

00:10:00.800 around Melbourne in like full lockdown just listening to that album on repeat so yeah maybe

00:10:05.860 it is time for a new era and it sounds like she's going back to like a bit more EDM-y like electronic

00:10:10.160 um vibes of her um melodrama era new era as well because everyone's saying mask lord is here did

00:10:17.640 you see that selfie that she posted it was this mirror selfie that's headless and she's kind of

00:10:21.740 pulling up her top and she's got her underwear band on show no everyone's like oh my god she's 0.99

00:10:27.160 posting like a gay man on grinder like this shit's about to get real now girls what's happening with 0.99

00:10:32.720 matilda jeff because like really respectfully i kind of forgot about her and i'm just like what's 0.99

00:10:38.040 happened like what have I missed I'm so glad you brought this up I've been like itching to talk

00:10:43.140 about this because yes Swedish influencer Matilda Jeff is back kind of in the internet speak and not

00:10:51.340 for a very good reason she's been accused of stealing some set design but before we get into

00:10:57.200 the nitty and gritty of that let's give some backstory if people are confused like who is she

00:11:01.160 like I've heard of her kind of so Matilda Jeff is an influencer turned business owner she owns the 0.97

00:11:07.540 fashion label, Jerf Avenue, which is famous for it's like Scandi fashion aesthetics, pretty basics. 1.00

00:11:14.440 Like she's got the famous fruit robe that like all the TikTok dillies wear. She's had a few 1.00

00:11:19.320 scandals in the past. Most notably was last year when a Swedish newspaper alleged that she'd been 0.96

00:11:25.600 kind of bullying her employees in her office. It's a long story. So if you haven't listened

00:11:30.800 to our original episode on it, it's called What the Jerf was released last year. So go back and

00:11:34.800 get all the details on that so since the scandal broke late last year she's kind of still been

00:11:39.260 posting online but she's taken a little bit of a step back like less speaking vlogs kind of just

00:11:44.240 more like aesthetic photo dumps every week um but now she's back in the kind of news cycle again

00:11:51.400 after an Australian Sydney based set designer called her out for stealing her set design yes

00:11:58.900 so oh my gosh why am I so giddy to talk about this I love kind of I love the gossipy element

00:12:04.820 of this but I think for me what's really brought this into focus is that we're talking about a

00:12:09.540 local Australian like maker an artist who's kind of calling Matilda out so we've got it kind of

00:12:14.700 on our shores so the person in question is Ashley Marcos right and as you said she's a Sydney-based

00:12:20.760 set designer so the set in question is this gorgeous half clam shell kind of bed head shaped

00:12:27.680 like sculpture. And she created that for a brand a couple of years ago now. And Matilda has one

00:12:36.420 that's almost identical that she used for her promotion of her own brand. So Ashley shared

00:12:43.000 on Instagram, last week, I woke up to my phone blowing up. An influencer, Matilda Jerf, copied

00:12:48.640 a design I created for Slip Silk in one of her Jerf Avenue campaigns. To think that someone would

00:12:54.100 use my design for commercial gain without acknowledgement until called out was shocking

00:12:58.520 and something I never thought would happen. It's so disappointing to think that maybe because of

00:13:02.080 her following no one would speak up. Ashley continues, I commented on Matilda Jeff's post

00:13:07.320 that it was my design. I was then tagged as quote inspiration and the original set designer. This

00:13:13.920 design was used without my consent. I've been contacted by Matilda's team but no acknowledgement

00:13:18.540 of copying has been mentioned and the design is still being used for her campaign. They say

00:13:23.280 imitation is the sincerest form of flattery but originality hits different so interesting that

00:13:30.220 they kind of like edited the caption like oh yeah inspiration by the audacity yeah it's like okay

00:13:36.120 fine we'll give you some credit but like to then not be contacted further yeah and it feels like

00:13:41.520 an admission of guilt being like oh no you are the original set designer but you're not getting paid

00:13:46.680 and you weren't getting the correct like attribution some people have been saying like

00:13:51.400 you're copying Botticelli because it's obviously like inspired by the birth of Venus but I don't

00:13:56.800 think you can say like getting inspiration from like a renaissance era painting to like the exact

00:14:02.360 cut of the clam is also inspiration like of course nothing is original everything is inspiration

00:14:08.140 everything is someone has done before but in terms of that like direct copying you can't say

00:14:12.060 that's the same thing oh no like she did not invent shells like we know and Ashley in the

00:14:16.780 comments has been saying that she's like no guys like yeah I know the concept's not original but

00:14:20.860 her design was and like the same shapes as you were saying were hers. Well keep our eye on Matilda

00:14:27.700 and what she does next but it seems like she's just hitting brick wall after brick wall at the

00:14:32.900 moment so what will be her next move? Jazz and I work full-time essentially in media but sometimes

00:14:44.800 headlines get to us that just fully shock us to our core and this was one of them.

00:14:51.140 This happens a lot so we thought that we'd turn it into a whole segment so this is our new segment

00:14:56.160 called Culture Shock. And what better to kind of introduce this segment than Katie Bloody Perry 0.56

00:15:02.520 being in space this week. This has been my literal Roman Empire of the week like Kitsch and I have

00:15:09.720 been in hysterics all morning watching the footage this is so good I almost refuse to watch it and

00:15:16.060 I'm so sorry because I know we're about to report on it but like dare I say I read some articles

00:15:21.020 about it and I'm just I'm just over it you're over it and they only just went up and they just only

00:15:26.780 went up discourse barely started babe well I know let's let's get into it for those who kind of

00:15:31.520 might have missed this news because it wasn't just Katie Bering organized by Jeff Bezos's

00:15:36.240 fiance Lauren Sanchez there was an all-female crew that went up to space and the flight last

00:15:43.660 said 11 minutes I don't even want to call them crew people I'm saying astronauts crew they were

00:15:49.360 just there on a joyride like they were essentially on a theme park ride it just happened that theme

00:15:53.700 park ride went to space it's actually so like I guess me so mad it's actually disrespectful to

00:15:57.720 astronauts to say that they were astronauts or crew or pilots like they would brief sure they

00:16:02.220 spent a few days like training talking about it but like it was 11 minute joy right up to space

00:16:07.900 so it wasn't just katie perry up there we had gail king a news presenter we had lauren sanchez

00:16:13.180 as previously mentioned and then they did kind of sprinkle in some women in stem like you know 0.99

00:16:18.760 i think to try a piece of people yeah exactly so we did have a i mean we had a film producer which 1.00

00:16:25.440 not necessarily stem but we also had a former NASA engineer who now has started her own company to

00:16:33.440 promote science education so okay she gets a pass and also another scientist who now advocates for

00:16:39.300 survivors of sexual violence Amanda Nguyen so this trip this road trip space trip was aboard

00:16:46.700 Jeff Bezos's blue origin rocket so I believe that this is like Jeff Bezos's uh move into space

00:16:54.960 tourism which i think is going to be like such a thing in the next like couple of decades um

00:17:00.740 so yeah essentially just like a playground for the rich to jet up from earth and fall back down and

00:17:07.760 like gaze in awe at the earth and we're all down here like we can't afford groceries thank you so

00:17:13.840 much jeff rezos just makes me there's been a lot of discourse about that about like the inequalities

00:17:19.400 between like what is happening especially in America versus like seeing billionaires and

00:17:25.520 celebrities take a joy ride and act like it's this massive act of feminism just because they're all 0.62

00:17:31.940 women yeah and this is a thing so it's been over 60 years since the last all-female space crew

00:17:37.820 went up there but I feel like this is highlights the discrepancy between like gender in in space

00:17:45.580 travel because it's like oh my god this was the first all-female crew in that long and they picked

00:17:51.000 katie perry and they picked her i do like do you know why katie perry was picked i was actually

00:17:59.380 going to ask you both not just katie perry pretty much all of them like i've been seeing all like

00:18:05.140 the positive pr that they've been pushing out around it like of course all-female spaceship

00:18:10.420 whatever you want to call that um and all the interviews they're doing but I actually like

00:18:15.040 haven't grasped why they're actually going up there just for like PR a bit of a fun moment

00:18:21.480 perhaps I mean it's been quite memeable Katy Perry some of my favorite things what she was singing

00:18:27.140 Louis Armstrong up there um when she landed she she said that she felt super connected to life

00:18:34.780 and so connected to love yeah we have to play the clip of what katie perry said when she

00:18:42.400 landed back to earth i feel super connected to love so connected to love i think this experience

00:18:50.080 has shown me you never know how much love is inside of you like how much love you have to give

00:18:57.720 and how loved you are until the day you launch sorry what that's my first time hearing that

00:19:07.640 I just had to share my honest reaction like what are you talking about literally what was that

00:19:13.340 I mean all for an 11 minute ride and and she comes out with that I mean props on her for

00:19:20.220 bringing like the drama I feel like you kind of low-key have to fake it like even if she was like 1.00

00:19:23.800 that was okay that was midge i feel like she has to be like that was life changing but i feel like 0.99

00:19:28.260 you could just say like that was an amazing experience like i'm so grateful that that was

00:19:32.300 really cool that was so fun or like i can't wait till other people can experience like seeing the

00:19:37.380 earth from that perspective i'm so connected to love you don't know love until you've been to

00:19:42.120 space in a jeff bezos spaceship i'm dying yeah have you seen any of the footage first and foremost

00:19:48.840 no like I almost want to refuse I'm like boycotting boycotting this okay so I've been

00:19:54.340 randomly obsessed with Gail's journey going into space because she was crying on an interview

00:19:59.600 being like this is my biggest fear I'm so scared don't do it darling it's all good there's no gun

00:20:05.100 to your head like don't go and then there's footage of them walking on to the spaceship

00:20:10.160 which I highly recommend everyone watches I would say all five other of the girls were like very

00:20:15.980 excited ringing the bell like they were like let's go Gail looked green yeah she was not doing well

00:20:22.340 yeah I saw that footage as well and like Oprah because Gail King and Oprah are best friends 0.62

00:20:29.180 Oprah is like sobbing like crying like don't make her go like you know this was a choice

00:20:36.080 what I don't understand I mean I guess like pushing yourself kind of what we're talking

00:20:39.420 about up top with you like pushing yourself to like be a beginner babes I did a dance class I

00:20:44.700 didn't go to space but like you can still feel anxious and nervous not that i'm defending

00:20:49.660 billionaires but like you still feel anxious and nervous about doing something new and like you

00:20:53.320 have made that conscious decision i wonder if gail or katie or anyone like saw the comments from

00:20:58.080 people who were commenting on mostly katie's videos being like i've got a really bad feeling

00:21:02.820 about this like don't go it's gonna end badly we saw what happened with the submarine last year

00:21:07.820 why like what this is what happens when rich people want to get into like tin

00:21:11.880 machines and go where they're not meant to go but I'm glad that they landed back to earth

00:21:18.060 safely I was falling asleep because at Australian time I was wanting to stay up like half an hour

00:21:24.160 to see them take off and make sure they were okay but then I fell asleep so I woke up this morning

00:21:28.840 to like open my eye like with one eye like are they alive or is it gonna be like Katy Perry dead

00:21:34.160 not manifesting that well I know that this won't be the last time we speak about space tourism

00:21:40.380 but I am glad I guess that they're back on ground yeah they landed safely I wouldn't say soundly

00:21:47.700 though again another video I recommend is them actually flying back onto earth screaming and

00:21:54.720 they're braver than me I would have been worse than them but it did not sound like a peaceful ride

00:21:59.780 okay just quickly before we move on would you guys go to space now that we know this is

00:22:05.460 potentially a possibility i mean loki yeah i would i think if i got offered a free trip to space i

00:22:11.800 would say yes you're braver than me i don't think so i got offered free skydiving once like legit

00:22:17.000 like through tourism like not just like some guy being like hey you want to come and i said no and

00:22:21.600 i kind of was like oh should i have said no like cool experience but i don't know i just think

00:22:25.920 gotta be on ground i mean i think when people think of culture club they don't think of us

00:22:30.180 adrenaline junkies yeah one of the biggest tv shows of this past year has been the white lotus

00:22:42.100 and season three has wrapped up and we need to talk about one of the biggest conversations that's

00:22:47.940 come out of it female friendships yes have you finished the white lotus i have and no spoilers

00:22:54.280 no spoilers no spoilers but this has been my favorite season of white lotus i've watched all

00:22:59.700 three back to back this year for the first time. So I didn't want to say my opinion is validated.

00:23:04.840 Why is it your favourite? I won't get into it too much because we got a lot of ground to cover here

00:23:09.680 but essentially I think everything that was really great about season one, the humour,

00:23:13.900 the kind of critiques on culture and class have been pulled back into season three whereas I felt

00:23:19.580 like a lot of that dropped off in season two. I wasn't as invested but anyway we're talking about

00:23:25.140 female friendships aren't we yeah so one of the themes of the latest series was a trio of decades

00:23:31.320 long friends Jacqueline Kate and Laurie what did you think of their storylines like just briefly

00:23:39.360 and did you feel reflected in their gossiping ways it was interesting so these have been childhood

00:23:46.420 friends and they've kind of petered off and split off into different life paths one of them

00:23:51.200 is a celebrity um and another one you know is now quite religious and conservative and another one's

00:23:58.580 kind of like lives in new york like yeah so it's been a mix right and um there is tension to be

00:24:05.720 had between the three you can tell that they're trying to put their best foot forward best face

00:24:09.500 forward try create this ultimate girl trip reunion tour but there's so much tension at every bloody

00:24:16.440 turn. And one writer Arabella Peterson who's the co-founder of the career newsletter The Forward

00:24:23.580 also felt this and Arabella wrote an article titled The White Lotus Made Me Rethink My Toxic

00:24:30.920 Friendships for New Zealand Magazine Ensemble. So in it Arabella admits that she recognized aspects

00:24:36.820 of her dysfunctional friendships in the trio of Gen X's. We were lucky enough to have Arabella 1.00

00:24:43.080 actually read out a segment of the piece for us so here she is in her own words as a younger 1.00

00:24:48.180 millennial woman i'm caught between the relentless girl boss perfectionism of the 2010s and the 1.00

00:24:54.400 morally dogmatic wellness speak of the 2020s somewhere along the way the punishing self

00:25:00.120 optimization we once reserved for our careers was repackaged as personal growth this corporatization

00:25:06.360 linked into our friendships with the idea that a bond must always serve you or add value otherwise

00:25:12.400 why is it fair game to cut it off? What if jealousy can reveal parts of ourselves that

00:25:16.820 we've long denied? What if gossip, not the malicious kind, but the kind rooted in shared

00:25:22.360 curiosity and emotional processing, can be a form of intimacy? By forgetting that relationships are

00:25:28.320 meant to be lived in, not audited, it feels as though the curated standards we apply to friendships

00:25:33.240 are warping our experience of closeness. At its heart, friendship is a mutual, sometimes messy

00:25:39.020 commitment between imperfect people choosing to stay. This isn't a call to arms to slag your

00:25:43.880 friends off, succumb to your pettiest urges and stay in a friendship that is soured purely for

00:25:48.620 nostalgia, but rather a reminder that friendships, especially among women, are allowed to be fraught,

00:25:54.420 emotional and still deeply valid. If the goal of life is to be constantly evolving, growing and

00:25:59.720 improving, maybe we can take respite in the arms of our nearest and dearest. In truth, some of my

00:26:05.260 friendships aren't perfect, pristine or tension free, but I'm still happy to be at the table.

00:26:10.640 Okay. I loved her piece so much. It's obviously linked in our show notes if you want to give it

00:26:14.900 a proper read, but I think the conversation about the TikTokification and therapy speak

00:26:20.080 vacation of our friendships is something that's so poignant and that's so,

00:26:24.360 you know, important to be had nowadays. Didn't feel like my friendships are exactly the same

00:26:30.740 as those women of course but there were elements where I was like oh my gosh I've seen these women

00:26:37.080 before and I really liked in this article how Arabella says like it's made me rethink my quote

00:26:42.740 unquote toxic friendships because I feel like we have our best best friends who we like ride or

00:26:47.580 die for like you can trust them implicitly but then you have like some more acquaintances people

00:26:51.900 you see around who you might see once a month once every couple months and sometimes conversations

00:26:57.320 can veer into that bit of like gossipy nurse or yeah gossip under the guise of catching up 0.94

00:27:04.700 so I think it was cool that Arabella firstly admitted that in female friendships and 0.97

00:27:09.600 said that like it doesn't have to be a bad thing like of course if you're like actually hurting

00:27:15.740 people actually like feeling really really crappy after spending time with these people but clearly

00:27:20.580 these three women and white lotus don't because they've gone on this like all-inclusive holiday

00:27:23.920 together for a week and for me I think it just validated that not all friendships have to look

00:27:28.320 so pristine and they have to look the same and that the messiness of friendship can sometimes

00:27:32.920 be a part of it and to think otherwise that they have to be these like perfect perfect friendships

00:27:38.280 or otherwise they don't count or they're toxic is not true and I was like whoa I feel like I haven't

00:27:42.960 kind of seen this on screen before 100% well correct me if I'm wrong girls but didn't we do

00:27:48.800 an episode way back when an article came out about gossiping actually somewhat being healthy

00:27:54.200 yeah i feel like i'm more in this camp than you are mags sometimes i think that sometimes it can

00:28:01.180 be used as an excuse though right and i think that's what they do in white lotus where they

00:28:05.040 say like oh like the divorce was really bad but she's so great or like it's like being gossipy

00:28:11.160 and nasty about someone else but like under the guise of like caring about them and that's such

00:28:15.960 a fine line right because sometimes it's like you might share something and it's like it is because

00:28:20.760 I'm like oh I'm genuinely concerned about my friend but other times it might be like you're

00:28:25.420 kind of giving other people pieces of like someone's private life that they've shared with

00:28:29.480 you for like entertainment value no you're so right there I think the lines of gossip I think

00:28:36.040 we're at a point kind of now in culture that we kind of most of us do agree that gossip has its

00:28:40.720 place and that there is some purpose for it but then when you kind of break away that there are

00:28:45.540 some kind of more insidious like realms of it like you're saying so it's still a bit of an

00:28:50.680 icky topic to navigate but I think yeah this conversation on the white lotus just shows that 0.62

00:28:56.420 it's prevalent and it's here so like we have it for a reason and I think we should keep talking

00:29:01.880 about it with the tiktokification of friendship and therapy speak and cutting people off at like

00:29:06.820 the slightest annoyance I think it's always healthy to like keep up these topics and like

00:29:12.060 when they're woven in with like the biggest TV show of the year then I think that's a good thing

00:29:17.200 over the past five years we have been doing recommendations every single episode without fail

00:29:28.980 and we love this segment so much and so we are keeping it but it's now called bookmarked in it

00:29:36.520 we'll be sharing something that we've loved reading watching or listening to you guys know

00:29:40.740 the drill. Jazz, let's put you in the hot seat first. What are you recommending? I'm recommending

00:29:47.020 a book called Hungerstone by Kat Dunn. It's another historical fiction recommendation from

00:29:54.560 Jasmine. What a surprise. It was released in February of this year. So it's still really

00:29:59.040 fresh. You might've seen the cover around. It's kind of that really popular cover at the moment

00:30:03.100 where it's like a kind of Renaissance painting with like some modern font over the top. You know

00:30:08.260 the one i love it um so this book it's set in the industrial revolution and the main character is

00:30:15.300 lenore so she's the wife of a steel magnet named henry um in the 10 years they've been married

00:30:20.620 got married super young as you did in the industrial revolution she hasn't had or they

00:30:25.460 haven't had a child so the relationship is kind of growing more distant but then a mysterious

00:30:30.200 woman appears and lots of how do I do this without giving away lots of mysterious things happen it's

00:30:38.580 definitely a book about desire want just like being a woman in general I love how you're trying

00:30:44.800 your best not to spoil anything but I'm loving the themes that you're talking yeah it's very

00:30:49.240 theme heavy so this book is actually based on the novel Carmilla um which is said to have been

00:30:57.280 the inspiration for Dracula so lots of vampire themes as well so it's kind of got supernatural

00:31:02.820 historical fiction but anyway the reason I loved it is because I couldn't put it down it was really

00:31:09.540 like enthralling there's kind of that like was that real was that not also um really strong

00:31:15.000 characters I think you can really picture it picture as like a kind of mini series on like

00:31:19.960 BBC or something so yeah I really enjoyed that I actually found it because I started listening to

00:31:24.460 it as an audiobook and then I would keep falling asleep at the same point every night so I was

00:31:29.760 like damn it I'm just gonna go and buy the physical book and actually stay awake to read it so that

00:31:35.200 was a good find from like Spotify audiobooks that then ended up me just going out and buying the 0.90

00:31:40.140 physical novel so highly recommend that I think that you'd like it how many stars would you give

00:31:44.200 it out of five I'd give it a four 3.5 to four there was one part of it that you know when you're like

00:31:50.960 okay we get it like you've said this yeah that's my only criticism of it so i think it could have

00:31:55.300 been cut by a few pages but otherwise like still a great journey to go on and mags what have you

00:32:00.540 loved watching reading or listening to this week i've got a movie break for you this week i watched

00:32:06.020 best in show this was a film made in 2000 it's so weird to say like such a round number but yeah

00:32:13.300 in the year 2000 it was released this is a mockumentary film have you heard of this no

00:32:20.000 oh my god so I realize now that I think I have a favorite genre film and it's like a campy kind of

00:32:26.740 like 80s to early 2000s film this is kind of like my bread and butter so this film essentially is a

00:32:35.040 mockumentary that looks at the highly competitive and cutthroat world of dog shows and the owners

00:32:42.860 who have them so it's almost like a dance mom's type but with dogs okay honestly it was so fun

00:32:49.880 and you will not believe the cast of this so the parents of Schitt's Creek Eugene Levy and

00:32:57.880 Catherine O'Hara are some of the stars which was incredible to see them like 20 years previous in

00:33:03.980 this role together dare I say I know they've worked quite a bit together over time but I'm

00:33:08.560 like oh my god like what a beautiful professional relationship there was also John Michael Higgins

00:33:15.060 who if you don't know the name I didn't know that name either but it's the um judge in Pitch

00:33:20.920 Perfect you know that guy that's like the creepy one and he's like the same in this so I genuinely

00:33:27.700 think before I get into the rest of the cast I think so many casting directors have watched this

00:33:32.780 movie and they've been like we need to cast these people in more roles and some of them are quite

00:33:37.160 similar so we've got that guy we've got bloody Jane Lynch who is Sue Sylvester from Glee who

00:33:44.100 plays like a dog handler in this and I swear to god like I'm like that's Sue that's Sue in another

00:33:49.180 life we've also got you look scared your eyes I mean Jess is just like looking at me with like a

00:33:55.220 wide eyes across the room I'm like this how have I never heard of this yeah because and also dare

00:34:02.680 I say I need to give like acknowledgement when acknowledgement is due so Tom found this movie

00:34:07.820 and I'm pretty sure he found it from Eilish Gilligan from Shameless and it's quite topical

00:34:12.700 at the moment because parker posey is in it so a fellow white lotus star she kind of into at times

00:34:20.240 you get like bits of a character from white lotus in it i'm like oh my god yes i can see so all of

00:34:26.120 them are just playing characters that they kind of it kind of feels like it before yeah well i mean

00:34:31.140 this is og this is 25 years old jennifer coolidge is in this and when i saw her this is like the

00:34:37.920 youngest I've ever seen her in a film it like blew my mind she is an icon have you not seen

00:34:43.820 American Pie oh yeah I have wait she's in that Blake's jaw just dropped I forgot you're gonna

00:34:51.240 have a lot of moments like this with that who does she play Stifler's mom oh the mom okay well

00:34:56.200 I'll re I'll relook at that I did study that at high school but anyway you studied American Pie

00:35:00.940 in high school media oh yeah in media class in like film study sorry film studies in year nine

00:35:05.900 or 10 very highbrow I know I know um but that's kind of the standout list it was just so funny

00:35:12.440 I love like a good 90 minute yeah funny thing I was just like laughing so much it was so silly

00:35:17.100 it was so silly what streaming service was it on um we're now like torrenting or pirating things

00:35:24.620 it's a really good site it's called streamio so um I didn't say that I didn't everyone go steal

00:35:30.780 your movies pirates on culture club well that's the end of our episode thank you for listening

00:35:38.360 this was the first episode with one day dream network so stay tuned on everything that's coming

00:35:45.460 up with culture club because we are so excited for this new era yay we'll chat to you soon bye

Culture Club - April 17, 2025

Extra Terrestrial

Episode Stats

Transcript