Culture Club - Our Winter Favourites： Books, Films, Music, Beauty & More

00:00:00.000 our winter favorites from books and hobbies to music and skincare. I'm Maggie Zhao and I'm

00:00:10.240 Jasmine Wallace and you're listening to Culture Club where two writers and editors chat about

00:00:14.680 pop culture, current affairs, the internet and our lives. Today we're on the land of the Wurundjeri 0.57

00:00:20.360 Woi Wurrung people of the Kulin Nations. We would like to pay our respects to elders past and present

00:00:25.580 and extend that to any Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander listeners today.

00:00:33.540 Jazz, we are back for another edition of our seasonal favourites. We premiered this

00:00:39.260 back in autumn and I'm so happy we're doing this again. It's now officially winter here in Australia

00:00:45.840 and we're going to talk about some of the things that we're looking forward to or that we've

00:00:50.160 already started incorporating into our routines for the cold season. It feels like we just did

00:00:55.340 an autumn one so I can't believe we're already doing winter but we're going to start with some

00:01:01.080 vibes and the curriculum that we kind of touched on in the autumn one as well so I'm wondering

00:01:06.780 what are you like enjoying in your life at the moment? I've been wanting to humble brag about

00:01:12.740 this for like maybe six weeks is when I've been like how long I've been doing it for. I have been

00:01:18.020 doing social free Saturdays so social media free Saturdays on my phone to be very exact so yeah I've

00:01:26.720 been doing this for about six weeks and on Saturdays I block any of the main social media

00:01:32.040 sites from my phone I will say I do check things on my laptop because in our line of profession

00:01:36.800 you're gonna be like am I getting cancelled do I have to delete hate comments genuinely

00:01:40.500 um but I really liked it just having one day away from social media per week I found really

00:01:48.360 helpful I've actually been inspired by Joy who is a creator in Melbourne we'll link her below

00:01:53.160 and this is insane so she's a full-time content creator but for like the last four years or

00:01:57.480 something she takes one week of social media every month and it's incredible and she's baked

00:02:02.340 it into her routine so well she invites others to do do so the same I feel like I can't do that

00:02:07.840 especially with a podcast we have to keep like you know on top of the new cycle but one day a week

00:02:12.420 I can do that's so impressive to have a whole week when you are in that line of work can I ask

00:02:17.520 why it was Saturdays not Sundays because I feel like Saturdays are traditionally like an errands

00:02:21.920 day and like seeing friends like doing stuff and then Sunday I find that's something that I want

00:02:27.160 to talk about later but like more quiet days yeah because I feel the same I'm out on Saturday so I'm

00:02:32.700 like I don't need to be on my phone and then also Sunday's good time to post actually yeah Sunday

00:02:39.480 nights are a really high engagement time oh cursed well I love that for you social free Saturdays

00:02:47.920 thank you what about you what's on your curriculum it kind of feels like the antithesis of winter

00:02:54.580 but I am really craving a strict routine at the moment which feels funny for winter when it's like

00:03:01.840 so like oh sleepy and that vibe but I think it's just like coming up to a year of being freelance

00:03:08.100 and just like finding my feet with all of that and I think that I'm now craving like on Mondays I do

00:03:14.960 this and Monday nights I do this and Tuesday it's like you can't be flexible of course with like

00:03:18.860 events that pop up or like friend things that pop up but I think just like being more intentional

00:03:23.520 with my time and one of those is trying to have quieter Sundays Laurie is like such an advocate

00:03:30.020 of like quiet weekends of like you're just like in your home and you're just like I don't know

00:03:35.320 re-energizing from the week and just like having a quiet weekend maybe go out Saturday night but

00:03:40.300 like it's kind of that traditional vibe I've never felt that I've just been like the weekend is just

00:03:43.560 an extension of the week like let's just like see all the friends and do all the things and like

00:03:47.400 I've got this Erin and this and like I'm still so busy on weekends finding a routine and then

00:03:51.540 trying to have quieter Sundays with maybe just family or just Laurie and I he's like Sunday's a

00:03:57.980 God's day. Take it back to, you know, what it was. No one works on Sundays. You stay in. That's nice.

00:04:05.580 What hobbies are you leaning into this winter as well, Max?

00:04:08.320 The one I'm going to say today is one I'm saying to be accountable for it. I think I actually

00:04:12.900 brought it up on the podcast when I first got it, which is a secondhand cello. I am really

00:04:17.860 wanting to get lessons for this bloody cello, but I will say the upfront costs have been really high.

00:04:23.980 getting a Facebook marketplace wasn't the cheapest. And then I actually had to get it

00:04:28.160 in for repairs because something like was wrong with the strings. So already I've spent so much

00:04:32.360 money and I still haven't really played much. Like I've been like playing around on it at home,

00:04:38.640 but I'm like, no, I need a teacher to just like go through the basics. Yes. I used to play a few,

00:04:42.620 like over a decade ago in the high school, but I'm like, I'm excited to do it. I haven't started.

00:04:48.840 so this is an accountability thing and I can't wait by the time spring comes I will have had

00:04:54.560 lessons because I think winter is such a good time to do something like this I'm most likely

00:04:59.480 looking at like a like private lesson so someone comes over to my house because I'm not carrying

00:05:04.320 a cello on a bus I'm sorry um so yeah fingers crossed there I think sometimes in life you have

00:05:09.960 to like invest in something to get the benefits but my mindset with hobbies is the opposite I'm

00:05:15.200 always like if you want to start a hobby start like bare bones like use what you have go like

00:05:19.860 really cheap and then once you've done it for a while and you like it then invest because I hate

00:05:24.500 it when people are like I need to like buy all this new stuff to try a hobby I'm like you don't

00:05:29.240 but you can't do the hobby without the instrument yeah cello's different you're right actually back

00:05:34.620 in the day as a quick thing um people learning violins like I knew a family friend who had to

00:05:39.560 practice on like a cardboard cutout like cereal box before they like use a proper instrument

00:05:44.900 not for cost reasons I think that's just like how they kind of learn how do you do that I don't know

00:05:50.500 girl that's impressive you imagine the notes what about you what hobby are you trying I also

00:05:56.720 mentioned this on the podcast but you said that piano would be very good for me and my brain at

00:06:01.740 the moment so I'm looking into lessons for piano to go to a studio to do but something a bit

00:06:07.820 different because you said an instrument is I'm trying to find the time to document things not

00:06:14.680 on social media so like I just got a bunch like three disposable cameras developed this week and

00:06:20.280 I found some from like 2015 2016 and I don't know what's on them I don't know if they've expired and

00:06:25.740 the film's gone bad but I want to get those developed when I was in uni I used to do film

00:06:31.960 photography so much more like classic university vibe but I really miss photography and also

00:06:37.840 having those photos in a physical album and curating sounds like such a wanky word but like

00:06:43.580 yeah curating them down and like having physical memories of things so I think that could be

00:06:48.560 something that I do on those quiet Sundays at home is like scrapbooking or photo albuming

00:06:54.960 or even just like going through my photos and culling a lot yes or my favorite way to

00:07:01.020 cull in a camera roll is at least for iPhones you can search by date so you put in either today's

00:07:06.940 date or like a random date like July 14th right and it comes up with all the photos videos you've

00:07:13.180 taken on that date throughout the years and it's actually just really nice to get like a snapshot

00:07:17.100 I feel like it's usually around like 50 to 100 photos so not the most to go through and like I

00:07:22.740 like culling that way because otherwise it's so overwhelming to be like oh my camera roll of what

00:07:27.620 30,000 photos 30 of I had like 80,000 on my iCloud that's crazy thousand disgusting it's like 10

00:07:35.440 years worth of photos next up let's talk skincare beauty let's start with skincare because I feel

00:07:41.780 like winter is when you need like skincare. It's a real MVP. Is there something that you've really

00:07:47.440 liked using? Yes. I haven't recommended this anywhere just yet, but my holy grail at the

00:07:54.160 moment is a moisturizer, a South Korean moisturizer brand called Dr. Jart. And the product is the

00:08:02.080 Sissapare Intensive Soothing Repair Cream. So it does a lot on the label. It looks like a really

00:08:08.840 basic moisturizer I got gifted it and when I had it I was like oh cool a moisturizer and I ran out

00:08:14.860 and I just started trying it and now it's like one of my favorite products so it's not too heavy

00:08:20.640 which I struggle with with acne so it can't be too heavy or too like tacky and this is a very

00:08:28.740 non-sticky non-greasy moisturizer but some of the benefits that it offers is like repairing your

00:08:35.600 skin's barrier and also reducing redness I find with acne and acne scars it really helps to like

00:08:41.780 just make things look a little bit brighter and reduce some of that like redness and

00:08:46.560 inflammation that I often get with my skin what color is the packaging for yours it's green yes

00:08:51.760 because they have different like colors which are from their different series essentially so like

00:08:56.320 yellow green blue um I love that one I've used I've used that too yeah it's like a milky moisturizer

00:09:02.740 so highly recommend especially if you're acne prone and what about you for skincare i'm

00:09:07.300 recommending one of my favorite night moisturizers it is the aesop sublime replenishing night mask

00:09:13.580 i love this one i use it like twice a week and it is like when you're like my skin is dry like

00:09:18.180 it needs help like it's it's worn out the next day it's like it feels like you've been to a

00:09:23.340 facial like it just has like this really lovely moisturizing plumping um hydrating kind of feel

00:09:30.080 and it's like kind of nice and like sleek i don't know how to say it's because it's a night mask but

00:09:35.580 it essentially is like a thicker moisturizer it's just so nice to put on it's a bit like lux feel

00:09:40.900 and i really like it so is that like a special occasion twice a week twice a week because you

00:09:46.220 don't need that much a little goes a long way it's a small pot but i've had it for you know

00:09:50.220 quite a while and it's still kicking it's got vitamins b c e and f so there's like a

00:09:56.740 exfoliation element to it and that's why I feel like it has that like brightening effect too

00:10:03.220 um if I want to go real real real facial I guess I also pair it with Clinique's clarifying lotion

00:10:11.060 to exfoliating face toner I love this face toner I use it most nights yeah and it's just like

00:10:16.560 brightening brightening and like you know getting rid of thin skin cells refreshing we love that

00:10:22.240 because I'm quite hesitant to use exfoliants.

00:10:26.240 I have been for the last year or so because I like ruined my skin barrier

00:10:29.400 once upon a time with too many products.

00:10:31.560 So it's very light and easy.

00:10:34.300 Great.

00:10:34.580 Maybe a winter facial at home.

00:10:36.400 Yeah.

00:10:36.520 Like self-care moment.

00:10:37.480 Okay.

00:10:37.940 What about makeup wise?

00:10:39.480 I've been using this product for a year and it's genuinely,

00:10:42.500 I've said this already, but like holy grail.

00:10:44.060 Wait, can I guess?

00:10:45.040 Yeah.

00:10:45.300 It's Merit.

00:10:46.140 Yeah.

00:10:46.540 And it's a little flush balm.

00:10:49.800 Yeah.

00:10:50.440 I was thinking about recommending that.

00:10:51.880 what is it called sorry yes it's the merit flush balm and the color that i use is part of like the

00:10:57.980 neutrals range and it's called fox i am wearing it right now if you're watching on youtube

00:11:04.000 and it's so versatile when we went away i think it was cook islands i was packed in such a rush

00:11:10.360 and i only packed like three makeup items which is fine because we were in a tropical island the

00:11:14.940 fox blush was one of them and i was using it on my cheeks my eyes i'm using on my eyes today as

00:11:21.080 well and i didn't bring a lipstick and so i was using on my lips as well yeah it's versatile it's

00:11:26.460 creamy it is also made for sensitive and acne prone skin because i struggle using um like makeup

00:11:33.980 brushes with like blush i found i would always get acne like on that site so to have this be like

00:11:39.780 fragrance free and also made for acne prone skin is a win-win for me i've had this product for a

00:11:45.980 Yeah. I use it most days and I still feel like I've barely scratched the surface. Like it's

00:11:51.280 not really going down. It's around $50. So that feels like expensive, like as a one-off,

00:11:56.060 but it's worth it if you use it every single day.

00:11:59.100 I've also got that same flush balm, whatever it's called, flush balm on, different color.

00:12:04.380 Don't know my color, but I love how easy it is to swipe on. Like I slick it on my face,

00:12:10.440 use my fingers to rub in quite subtle it's beautiful it's buildable and quite like natural

00:12:15.960 looking i'm just gonna i'm gonna piggyback this is gonna be my beauty one as well now tracking on

00:12:22.240 to music what are we listening to this winter are we gonna say the same thing no okay okay

00:12:28.540 mine's kind of random i'm going mainstream this winter and i'm just saying olivia rodrigo hell 0.67

00:12:33.800 yeah fuck yeah favoritism because the album just came out i love a pop moment i'm finding i don't

00:12:39.200 know whether it's like anxiety or stress or something but I'm finding myself like not really 0.98

00:12:43.280 experimenting with music at the moment just going back to some old favorites listening to a lot of

00:12:46.820 yacht rock as well on Spotify for some reason. Yacht rock is like a genre of rock from 80s like

00:12:51.860 pop rock anyway so I'm gonna say Olivia Rodrigo because we love a brand new pop album from the

00:12:58.580 pop girlies. Mine is someone I've like digged back into the archives of I think I really liked him in

00:13:03.980 like 2018 but Daniel Caesar's album from last year Son of Spurgy it's called really good and

00:13:10.860 it's like kind of more chill R&B quite like emotional sometimes I've been really liking

00:13:18.100 that album and it's nice I think in the same way that you're really listening to old favourite

00:13:22.840 things it's like nice to revisit an artist you used to love that's really nice when you find

00:13:27.160 an old fave and you can like listen to it in a new period of your life because I don't know

00:13:32.140 about you but i find like obviously certain albums remind you of certain times in your life and

00:13:36.420 sometimes i struggle to listen back to them in my new era because i'm like it's just it takes me

00:13:40.340 back too much yeah don't play lord pure heroine in front of jazz she'll freak out

00:13:45.580 what are we reading this winter i actually struggled with this question so i

00:14:02.040 stood in front of my tv like bookshelf i'm like what am i going to be reading i feel like we have

00:14:08.380 a lot of in the best way book obligations we're in a book club we're interviewing quite a few

00:14:12.220 authors coming up so i feel like my reading is more like it's been chosen for me anyway there's

00:14:18.020 a book i've been wanting to read on my bookshelf it's called the in between by christos sulcus

00:14:22.660 an australian author and this is like a beautiful like gay love story it follows two middle-aged

00:14:29.580 men who meet on a dating like internet thing and that's like all I kind of want to know and I'm

00:14:37.400 like you know it covers things like feeling the spark and the possibility of something more feeling

00:14:42.280 the fear of failing again of being hurt like I think what I want this winter is a nice sweet

00:14:49.060 bittersweet sad love story that's just I just want to lean into that and that sounds like that's

00:14:56.100 exactly what that is so you have to report back on the podcast I will what about you what are you

00:15:00.340 reading I wrote down three books but we're gonna go through the vault just pick one I have to pick

00:15:05.200 one well they all have a common theme okay and that theme is like dark gothic literary fiction

00:15:11.920 vibes I love reading like for the season like I don't want to read a glossy summer book in the

00:15:19.180 depths of Melbourne winter the book that's at the top of my list for that theme is called Tillinghast

00:15:25.420 And it's by Claire Kavanagh. So it's actually inspired by the real life 19th century vampire panic that took New England in the US by storm. It is a dark, atmospheric novel. It's a vampire novel. So it follows Stutley Tillinghast, who lives a solitary life in a remote rural parish.

00:15:50.180 He's not really had much human contact over the years,

00:15:53.420 but what he has had has ended up in a frenzied and bloodied brief interaction

00:15:58.680 and has always ended in a shallow grave in his cellar.

00:16:02.840 There's a name for what he is, but he prefers not to use it.

00:16:06.300 And then a girl arrives searching for him.

00:16:09.020 She has his last name and bears an uncanny resemblance to the woman,

00:16:12.600 awakening memories Tillinghouse has long suppressed.

00:16:15.740 It's kind of a moody vampire.

00:16:19.800 Mute vampire literary fiction novel.

00:16:21.820 Is she going to be his daughter or a love interest?

00:16:24.380 That's what we need to find out.

00:16:25.940 But I love that it's inspired by real like historical cultural events.

00:16:31.340 I'll report back on the podcast as well.

00:16:34.120 And to end on, let's talk about what movies and films

00:16:38.200 we're wanting to watch this winter.

00:16:40.540 Maggie, what are you watching?

00:16:42.080 Okay, this is a funny one.

00:16:43.280 Are you ready?

00:16:44.820 Movies from 2007.

00:16:46.540 I've always said when I was nine years old when I was nine years old when I was in 2008 I was like

00:16:52.940 wow 2007 peaked for music for cinema everything and why have I been proven right 20 years later

00:17:00.280 and I realized I think I'm drawn to this year because it's essentially like 20 years in the

00:17:04.280 past right and there's something really nice to look at that cycle of time because I just

00:17:08.400 watched a really good movie and I know it's a classic I didn't know about it Lars and the

00:17:12.420 real girl i've not seen it oh you gotta watch it it starts ryan gosling and this made him like

00:17:18.300 like be so in awe of ryan gosling he's amazing in it i didn't really i thought you would have

00:17:24.260 seen it so i didn't really um i was like do i need to explain it essentially it follows

00:17:29.460 lars played by ryan who's like this very awkward like autistic man who gets into a relationship

00:17:37.600 with a sex doll essentially it is so moving it was so good i loved this movie and it's actually

00:17:45.340 followed a few pants i've watched a few other movies from 2007 i recommended watching the

00:17:49.640 detectives a few weeks ago um which i loved as well so i'm so ready to dive into this year

00:17:55.680 i feel like that's a good way to like focus on like a movie diet and be like okay things from

00:18:01.460 this time that's very curriculum of you to be like today or this month we're studying 2007 films

00:18:07.660 it's also like the twee era yes so bring that back we need to bring that back culturally please

00:18:13.580 yes the melbourne international film festival program got like the first look got released

00:18:18.920 this week so the festival is taking place from the 6th to the 23rd of august in melbourne and

00:18:24.140 victoria as well and there's a premiere that is at the top of my list which is called the airport

00:18:29.040 chaplain it's actually a series and the world premiere is going to be at myth it's directed by

00:18:35.140 bonnie moore and it follows a airport chaplain as it says on the tin who has like an unorthodox

00:18:41.960 approach to helping airport customers deal with their crises and then the new terminal manager

00:18:48.920 mira who's played by shabana aziz of the pit she kind of has tobias the chaplain marked for

00:18:56.180 redundancy and then we are gonna go through the journey of them getting to know each other and

00:19:02.320 like working together uh tobias wallace lol same last name is played by hugo weaving oh

00:19:09.300 great australian cast i think it's so important to support australian media and you can see the

00:19:17.640 world premiere at myth oh my god that sounds so good does it give the terminal vibes kind of like

00:19:23.580 just from the photos and from what I've seen kind of like an eccentric man who loves the airport

00:19:28.260 but yeah I really really like Shabana in the pit I think she's so cool and beautiful and I just love

00:19:35.520 seeing fresh Australian talent especially when they break in the U.S. like she has done with

00:19:39.000 the pit and of course Hugo Weaving classic so we will link the MIFF program tickets aren't on sale

00:19:45.480 yet but we'll link it in the show notes yay and that brings us to the end of our winter favorites

00:19:51.420 episode please let us know in the comments like things that you're liking you're watching you're

00:19:56.460 wanting to like dive into this winter as well we love to hear what our community is doing thank you

00:20:02.520 so much for listening to us today and if you enjoyed this episode maybe give us a little like

00:20:06.160 or review on apple or spotify we really appreciate it thank you we'll see you next time bye

Culture Club - June 18, 2026

Our Winter Favourites： Books, Films, Music, Beauty & More

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