Culture Club - She's So Golden

00:00:00.000 The feud between Nicola Peltz and Victoria Beckham, Olivia Wilde's tell-all interview, 0.79

00:00:12.940 and is Harry Styles really queerbaiting? 0.86

00:00:16.500 We're Jasmine and Maggie, and you're listening to Culture Club, our weekly chat about pop

00:00:21.100 culture, current affairs, the internet, and our lives.

00:00:24.280 we acknowledge that the Wurundjeri Woiwurrung people are the traditional custodians of this

00:00:33.720 land we are on today we would like to pay our respects to elders past and present we'd also

00:00:39.720 like to celebrate the rich history of first nations culture and storytelling that we are

00:00:43.860 continually learning from this always was and always will be aboriginal land

00:00:48.460 surprise jazz we're having another episode even though we said we're going on a break

00:00:57.400 yeah if you listened all the way to the end last episode i said that we're going on a break because

00:01:04.220 i'm going overseas i'm still going overseas but we're doing like an emergency episode kind of

00:01:09.940 because uh we want to talk about stuff so that's nice we're back there's a lot to talk about this

00:01:18.860 week and we only recorded like half a week ago and it's so funny because you were like to me

00:01:23.680 oh let's just do a quick little episode you know enjoying it on school night and then we've got 14

00:01:28.840 pages of notes so buckle up people why are we like this why do we do this to ourselves no i'm super

00:01:36.280 keen um but before we get into pop culture we have some very exciting news which you may have

00:01:42.600 seen on our instagram yes jazz and i aka culture club will be taking to the stage at beyond the

00:01:53.320 valley festival what well i have such imposter syndrome about this sorry like we are not very

00:02:01.800 festival-y people. I've only ever been to day festivals. I've never been to the camping festival.

00:02:06.640 I don't know, just like it's not really our scene, but I'm so excited for this.

00:02:11.740 I'm so excited too. It really doesn't feel real at all. I'm still trying to process this,

00:02:18.080 even though, you know, we found out the news a few months ago. Jazz, what if they were actually

00:02:22.300 trying to book Boy George's band, Culture Club? I might believe that if we weren't on the

00:02:29.100 podcasting stage. So super excited. We're part of the Daily Oz podcast stage, and it's the first

00:02:35.960 time that a major Australian festival has ever had a podcasting stage, which is really exciting.

00:02:41.340 So it's going to be hosted by Lucinda Price, aka Frooms, who's a local comedian. And other

00:02:48.560 podcasters include Abby Chatfield with It's A Lot, Feeling Sexy with Chantelle Otten, Coming Out Black,

00:02:55.600 making a hoodie with aim listenable with dylan alcott and a couple more so it's happening now

00:03:03.600 it feels more real because it's been announced like we obviously we've known for a little while

00:03:07.560 but we kept it very very hush hush even amongst our friends like some of our closest friends 0.97

00:03:11.320 like what the fuck um because yeah you never know what could happen but it's happening yeah so we 0.96

00:03:17.620 will be performing i hate that word that sounds so funny we are not gonna be singing thank god 0.98

00:03:23.260 um but where we'll be on on the last day of the year december 31st and it will be around you know

00:03:30.940 lunchtime don't worry we're not clashing with any acts that you want to see perform

00:03:35.460 don't worry you don't have to choose between like benny and us we understand um but if anyone

00:03:42.080 is planning on going or is curious about going we will have a link to register for pre-sale to find

00:03:48.980 that more info yes yeah link in the show notes and it's also a link in our bio um but we hopefully

00:03:56.460 will see some of you there I've already had a couple messages and comments from people

00:03:59.740 who will be there which is very exciting so yeah thanks beyond the valley for thank you us and

00:04:07.320 having us okay so starting us off for this episode today i want to talk about everybody's

00:04:19.140 apparently favorite instagram influencer joe jonas because he is the star of a strange

00:04:26.440 injectables campaign we'll play a bit of the sound sample here who wants to wake up looking

00:04:32.840 like someone else. Not me. Whether I'm home or on the road or somewhere in between, I try to take

00:04:42.520 care of my skin because I believe less is more. I really care what I put in my body. I want 0.97

00:04:46.980 consistent results. I want something that keeps me, well, looking like me. Yeah. So it's a bit 0.54

00:04:51.980 indie, poppy, upbeat, Vogue video vibes, but the messaging is anything but. When you first see the

00:04:59.740 video it looks like he is selling vitamins skincare I don't know an at-home workout routine it's very

00:05:07.900 glossy but he's actually selling a cosmetic injectable that smooths spine lines and wrinkles

00:05:15.920 and it's similar to Botox apparently it's like Botox's biggest competitor you sent me this video

00:05:22.160 what did you think when you first watched it at first I was like well I knew the context because

00:05:28.720 I'd read an article which we're about to reference again I was like oh maybe it's like not so bad

00:05:33.280 maybe it's like vitamin vibes but what got me the most is at like halfway or the last quarter of the

00:05:39.700 video and you're talking about all the side effects we have to add the side effects part in here

00:05:44.800 and it just keeps going like you're like oh may include side effects of like I don't know

00:05:54.360 disrupted sleep and you think it's going to be like three side effects and then they're like

00:05:57.640 may cause heart failure you're gonna die like we take no responsibility for any side effects of

00:06:02.860 this drug and it just goes on and on as joe jonas just like walking around this house

00:06:07.360 effects of zeumin may spread hours to weeks after injection causing serious symptoms alert your

00:06:12.740 doctor is difficulty swallowing speaking breathing eye problems or muscle weakness can be signs of

00:06:16.660 life-threatening conditions side effects may include allergic reactions headache injection

00:06:20.180 site pain eyelid drooping and swelling tell your doctor i genuinely thought at that stage i'm like

00:06:24.980 wait is this a parody yeah is this a joke because that that like very stern voiceover

00:06:30.440 talked more than joe jonas you know it was like the main event and it was so loud i was like what

00:06:35.640 is happening oh yeah like four lines and the rest is just talking about the side effects of this like

00:06:41.460 botox stuff but i thought it was fascinating i actually sent it to our colleague at pedestrian

00:06:47.820 to cover to turn into a new story because i was like this is so interesting that it's like

00:06:51.680 a male one co-opting the body positivity movement which was created by black women in particular

00:07:00.220 and two selling you know Botox and you know anti-wrinkle stuff it's fascinating to me that

00:07:08.500 like men now in the Instagram age are kind of like getting held captive by this beauty industry that

00:07:16.460 women have you know had to conform to for like decades now it's finally trickling down to the

00:07:22.000 men um so yeah it's just very interesting to me yes i have thoughts on that but i want to get

00:07:28.100 into that later so you did mention an article just before and it was in dazed it's called

00:07:34.200 the hypocrisy of joe jonas's bizarre injectable campaign and that was written by alex peters

00:07:40.700 so kind of what you were talking about just then about the co-opting of the beauty positivity

00:07:46.060 body positivity movement. Alex kind of goes and dives into that concept about this, you know,

00:07:52.860 about this campaign. We'll read some of it out now. If the message of the campaign seems to you

00:07:58.900 at all incongruous with the product it's selling, that's because it is. The brand has co-opted body

00:08:05.020 positivity rhetoric, language meant to encourage people to feel good in their own bodies, to boost

00:08:11.160 self-esteem and counter toxic impossible beauty standards and used it to persuade you into buying

00:08:18.120 injectables to change your face so that you can fit into these mainstream beauty ideals. Alex

00:08:24.620 continues what's increasingly becoming clear however is that not only do these types of

00:08:29.280 procedures not seem to be empowering individuals it is also creating enormous pressure on the

00:08:34.620 collective by adhering to this oppressive system of beauty we are raising the baseline of beauty

00:08:39.920 ideals and making them less and less accessible to achieve for everyone but the very rich so let's

00:08:46.140 talk about it i find it quite interesting that we're talking about how the language of the body

00:08:52.500 positivity movement was used for campaigns like this and i have to admit i'm not too familiar with

00:08:58.380 plastic surgery and tweakment marketing techniques apart from you know it's quite interesting i feel

00:09:05.000 like in Australia, a lot of Instagram pages of these clinics are just very like almost scientific

00:09:10.520 or medical before and after shots, like quite, you know, just straight marketing. I think that's

00:09:17.760 because of the TGA standards we have in Australia. Like we have very strict rules around that kind

00:09:22.400 of stuff, but yes. Yeah, no, that's such a good point. But if I was, if I was marketing, if I was

00:09:27.660 doing marketing for a place like this, I would lean into the body positivity thing. Cause how

00:09:32.620 else are you going to really sell it you can't be like you're really ugly you know like people 0.73

00:09:37.480 like I don't know that's the way you sell things nowadays no yeah you're right like so much of the

00:09:46.400 work that I do as part of native content is like brands coming to us being like we want to like

00:09:52.740 say that this ice cream gives you the self-worth you need to get through the day and us as a team

00:09:59.540 were just like it's just ice cream like you can just say it's ice cream obviously that's very

00:10:03.760 different when it comes to like beauty standards um but you're right like yeah what else are they

00:10:09.380 meant to do so like I feel like back in the past where they were like do you you don't want to look

00:10:14.200 tired and and like old get these injections um to smooth fine lines and wrinkles and now it's like

00:10:22.300 you should look like yourself so funny I think why I'm even more critical about this ad is because

00:10:30.880 of the interview that Joe gave with people so he like talks about the campaign more

00:10:36.580 we'll read out some of the quotes now too we're all getting older and part of that is being

00:10:42.360 comfortable in our skin I don't think it's necessarily something that we have to shy away

00:10:47.800 from we can be open and honest about it and be confident and not really shy away from speaking

00:10:53.560 our truth okay I feel like that's a whole lot of nothing but anyway Joe continues there were all

00:10:59.580 these talks at one point like oh men can't do this or it's weird for guys to do that and I think

00:11:04.580 there's a stigma that's fading and I like that guys are more openly wearing makeup and it's great

00:11:09.080 to see it's like do whatever you want you know it's a beautiful generation that we're living in

00:11:13.580 let's talk about these because jazz devil's advocate kind of vibe right he's a celebrity

00:11:19.600 he is he was a teen pop you know sensation i would i would have guessed that he would be

00:11:25.960 getting work done anyway right but in my head i'm like there's a big difference to getting it done

00:11:31.560 that's like you know his choice blah blah then like actually almost aggressively advertising it

00:11:38.060 to his fans of younger people do we think do we think that's valid or is that are you saying that

00:11:44.120 it's worse yes yeah I mean obviously he's getting paid a lot of money to do this you wouldn't put

00:11:51.020 your face on something so like controversial if you were getting like pennies I just think

00:11:58.260 what stood out to me the most is like I'm kind of asking why like why did he feel the need to do

00:12:06.580 that he must have like a huge trust fund that he's been you know putting money in since he was a

00:12:12.200 teenager one of the biggest boy bands in the world and he's married to this like huge game

00:12:17.640 of thrones stars like i don't feel like they're struggling for money i mean you never know it's

00:12:21.700 like expensive to upkeep like an la lifestyle but yeah it's just i don't think that even in his

00:12:29.000 dancers to me that's just like saying buzzwords it's not it's like not nothing of substance

00:12:36.420 it's also really sci-fi the ad is really like freaky to me yeah there's something so off about

00:12:45.040 it i think there's multiple things off about it but it just leaves you feeling a bit you're right

00:12:49.500 kind of like black mirror very black mirror or like it's something out of the 1950s like what

00:12:55.420 they used to market to women that like you 50 years on you read about it like oh how did they

00:12:59.900 like put that in their body obviously it's so bad for you it feels like that but like happening right

00:13:04.380 now well i hope that joe can sleep comfortably on his little bed of dollar bills lots of them

00:13:11.260 after this campaign

00:13:12.860 if you don't know who this couple is then lucky you but brooklyn beckham aka david and victoria

00:13:24.180 Beckham's eldest son and his new wife Nepo baby actress and billionaire's daughter Nicola Peltz

00:13:29.520 are constantly in the news at the moment okay so we know Brooklyn because you know his parents are

00:13:36.800 some of the most famous people in the world but Chaz did you know he's also an emerging

00:13:43.100 professional chef I also found this out through TikTok like many people this week I have mixed

00:13:49.940 feelings about the tiktok itself but basically if you haven't seen it it's one of those accounts

00:13:55.720 where the guy is like hey like talking to rich people in cars to ask what they do for a living

00:14:01.600 so he finds brooklyn beckham accidentally well supposedly accidentally and says hey what do you

00:14:06.660 do for a living and brooklyn's like uh i'm a chef and he's like wow you're a chef and you're in that

00:14:12.340 car he's like oh yeah like so sheepish i'm like it's actually so cringe i can't but the way that

00:14:18.160 the internet has so quickly jumped on this is incredible um so his wikipedia page has actually

00:14:26.220 already been edited to read brooklyn joseph beckham born 4th of march 1999 oh my god he's

00:14:33.320 also a pisces we are like a week wow that's weird um brooklyn is an english internet influencer

00:14:42.960 trying to be a chef previously a model and photographer because of course we can't forget

00:14:48.980 his iconic photography book like coffee side book coffee table book that he's um published which

00:14:57.060 is quite funny yeah it's like the shadow behind the elephant is like the funniest uh picture that

00:15:03.620 always gets brought up every couple years and that's the thing like if you're that famous and

00:15:07.540 you're a kid of famous people like all those like embarrassing well not that we all fucking wrote a 0.75

00:15:12.840 book and now we're trying to be a chef because we just because we can but like those embarrassing 0.83

00:15:17.400 things you do and you're trying to explore and like the little projects I don't know they can

00:15:21.060 kind of get made fun of more if you're super famous but another thing that was very funny

00:15:26.640 was in the cooking page on his website it also says in 2021 it was revealed that Beckham was to

00:15:32.600 try his hand at becoming a professional chef his online video series cooking with Brooklyn

00:15:37.580 attracted criticism when it was revealed

00:15:39.960 that it took 62 professionals to create each episode

00:15:43.320 at a reported cost of $100,000 each.

00:15:48.540 Critics also pointed out that Beckham

00:15:49.980 had no real professional experience or training.

00:15:53.420 Those figures blow me away.

00:15:56.760 The fact that rich people just have this much money

00:15:59.700 to blow on nothing.

00:16:02.020 So he's my age.

00:16:03.880 When I'm bored, I just have to read a book,

00:16:05.780 sometimes from the library.

00:16:07.580 oh my god but i mean maybe i should commend brooklyn for hiring 62 professionals perhaps

00:16:20.300 in the creative industry or actually the culinary industry so maybe this is an okay thing he's giving 0.81

00:16:26.720 people jobs he's a philanthropist so these like two extreme nepo babies they got married back in

00:16:33.820 april it was a star-studded affair and cemented brooklyn's online status as a wife guy so they

00:16:41.860 really milk their wedding like in the lead up to it even after like months after i'm still getting

00:16:47.260 like vogue u.s pictures from their wedding like the newlyweds are doing this now they're doing

00:16:53.040 this it's like oh my god yeah and wife guy status has been cemented online but you can just take

00:17:00.500 one look at brooklyn's body and that proves it too so he's actually got 70 tattoos dedicated to

00:17:07.160 nicola including this is so creepy but her eyes tattooed onto the back of his neck so intense

00:17:15.380 and those eyes on the back of his neck sit above a love letter that nicola wrote for him when they

00:17:20.860 were engaged i'll just read half of it because it's very long it takes up his whole neck

00:17:25.600 it says my forever boy read this anytime you feel anxious i want you to know how deeply loved you are

00:17:32.460 you have the kindest heart i've ever met and i hope i never go a day without your love he also

00:17:37.660 has his wedding vows on his arms and in one exchange back nicola has brooklyn tattooed on

00:17:44.420 her back so like 70 tattoos versus one chaotic energy chaotic energy and the only question i

00:17:51.120 really have is how is he reading that love note if it's on the back of his neck but anyway literally

00:17:57.740 anyway so the reason why we are talking about all this today is because of this iconic alleged

00:18:04.260 feud between Nicola and her mother-in-law Victoria Beckham so these rumors kind of sparked when

00:18:12.840 Nicola didn't actually wear one of Victoria Beckham's dresses to the wedding and then in

00:18:19.220 a recent interview, she kind of talked about it. Nicola said, I was going to, and I really wanted

00:18:25.200 to. And then a few months down the line, she realized that her atelier couldn't do it. So

00:18:30.640 then I had to pick another dress. She continued, she didn't say you can't wear it. I didn't say

00:18:36.460 I didn't want to wear it. That's where it started. And then they, being the media, ran with it.

00:18:41.240 Those are the most vague quotes in the world that were giving Joe Jonas level

00:18:45.480 worthiness just then definitely didn't help to quell the rumors of their alleged feud.

00:18:54.280 But another reason why people are talking about this was that apparently Victoria and David

00:19:00.640 were not invited to sit at the top table during the wedding reception, which was instead filled

00:19:07.240 by Nicola's mega rich father, fashion moral mother and siblings. A source told Daily Mail,

00:19:13.520 the top table was all pelts and it really felt as though the Beckhams were not at the forefront

00:19:18.040 there was a feeling that the wedding was all about the pelts family as you can imagine as

00:19:22.800 it was their house and their daughter and their son making the speeches another thing to come out

00:19:27.860 of this wedding was the lovely announcement that both Brooklyn and Nicola were going to combine

00:19:34.080 their last names so both of their last names now are pelts Beckham and apparently that wasn't taken

00:19:40.440 well by victoria or david which i don't know i think it's quite modern yeah but yeah baby they

00:19:47.600 are so famous um also so many rumors apparently nicholas family also crashed her honeymoon with

00:19:53.840 brooklyn which is awkward as fuck but um like the beckhams weren't there again yeah so now either

00:19:59.780 the couple are playing with the media or the feud is in full swing as this week the pair were 0.93

00:20:05.480 spotted looking like a carbon copy of david and victoria yes i saw these photos on twitter and i

00:20:11.940 was like ah i love the pettiness so nicola has gone back to her natural color of dark brunette

00:20:17.900 hair and she was wearing a long skirt big sunglasses a headband that looked like it was 0.86

00:20:23.600 picked out of a spice girls photo shoot um the couple are walking hand in hand and even the pap

00:20:29.760 shots are like shot with flash photography it really does feel like something from two decades

00:20:34.920 ago yeah so what do you think do you think this is like a legit feud or do you think because they 1.00

00:20:41.420 are nepo babies and they need to stay relevant well they don't need to stay relevant as nepo 0.99

00:20:47.260 babies they want to stay relevant and be seen as doing something other than being mega rich 0.93

00:20:51.020 that they're doing this to keep in the eye like the media eye i think that uh the beckhams and

00:20:58.300 the peltsers are modern day romeo and juliet kind of vibe montagues and capulets right i think

00:21:04.680 there's a lot of ego there's a lot of money involved with these families so i genuinely

00:21:08.780 think it's kind of real like i do think they don't get along that well because because this

00:21:14.260 isn't like a small silly frivolous issue this is like your relationship with a mother-in-law that

00:21:19.080 is big deal stuff in my opinion i could not pretend to hate or you know that's just being

00:21:25.440 yeah i don't know what about you though what do you think you know my pr hat is so wonky

00:21:31.260 I but I'm the opposite I think everything is PR so I think pop culture loves a mother-in-law and

00:21:38.560 daughter feud so they could be like just playing it up to get publicity like the rumors started

00:21:43.260 about the wedding dress and then they schemed together and were like you know what we could get

00:21:47.780 like we love each other behind doors we're so close with best friends but um you know it might

00:21:54.560 make more of a scene if we are seen as like feuding for a year or two and then we're like

00:22:00.480 become best friends and you know like I can just picture that as well I'll rate that I'd watch that

00:22:06.120 rom-com our unproblematic fave has made headlines this week for being well a bit problematic 0.76

00:22:19.720 apparently Harry Styles has come under fire for queerbaiting if you're unfamiliar with the term

00:22:26.140 queer baiting is a marketing technique where people, fiction or otherwise, hint at but don't

00:22:32.460 explicitly depict same-sex romance or other queer representation. This is to bait or attract a queer 0.97

00:22:41.340 or straight ally audience with a suggestion that these characters relate to them or appeal to them

00:22:48.460 while at the same time attempting to avoid alienating other consumers by not being explicit

00:22:55.060 in their sexuality status so all this came about well they've been kind of plaguing him for a

00:23:01.580 little while now but this most recent kind of accusation came about during an interview with

00:23:06.980 rolling stone where harry is the first ever global cover star and the prince of pop said this about

00:23:13.740 his private life i've never talked about my life away from work publicly and found that it's

00:23:18.640 benefited me positively there's always going to be a version of a narrative and i think i just

00:23:23.360 decided I wasn't going to spend the time trying to correct it or redirect it in some way.

00:23:28.280 Sometimes people say, you've only publicly been with women. And I don't think I've publicly been

00:23:33.060 with anyone. If someone takes a picture of you with someone, it doesn't mean you're choosing

00:23:37.240 to have a public relationship or something. That shocked me when he said that, hey? I didn't

00:23:41.640 expect that. Me too. If someone takes a picture of you with someone, it doesn't mean you're

00:23:46.500 choosing to have a public relationship. To me, that's also saying that so many of his past

00:23:51.340 relationships were pr were him and taylor swift ever together oh i didn't even think about that

00:23:55.780 i was just thinking how hurt his exes might feel reading that now that i'm thinking back as well

00:24:01.660 like how explicit or how much has he actually chosen to publish online about his prior

00:24:06.740 relationships it's all it has been predominantly pap shots yeah and i saw a tiktok about that about

00:24:14.440 how um in relation to this about how like celebrities kind of have the uh hard launch

00:24:22.360 essentially of a relationship and usually it's red carpet premieres and debuts um or you know

00:24:29.900 instagram whatever but yeah like harry's never you know been on a red carpet with a girlfriend or

00:24:35.780 been overly pda lovey-dovey apart from like some paparazzi shots but so in that vein it will be

00:24:44.360 interesting to see the premiere of don't worry darling like everyone knows everyone knows you

00:24:49.680 tick tock sound sorry um will they just act as co-stars will they will that be the official

00:24:56.820 debut you know like i don't know well we just have to wait and see i'm so excited for these

00:25:01.900 in-person interviews and red carpet appearances from uh for the film uh but yeah this rolling

00:25:08.740 stone interview the reason why we're kind of talking more about the queer baiting stuff is

00:25:13.880 because he talks about his upcoming role in the movie My Policeman which is based off a book

00:25:21.540 Jazzy actually recommended a few episodes ago so yeah in this film he will be playing a police

00:25:27.660 officer in 1950s Britain hiding his sexuality and we'll be able to watch this film finally in

00:25:35.440 November. So Harry said of the role it's obviously pretty unfathomable now to think oh you couldn't

00:25:41.540 be gay. That was illegal. I think everyone, including myself, has your own journey with

00:25:47.180 figuring out sexuality and getting more comfortable with it. It's not like this is a gay story about

00:25:53.240 these guys being gay. It's about love and about wasted time to me. There's a lot to break down

00:25:59.600 from these quotes, but I also, I hope it's not just because it's Harry and we love Harry, but

00:26:05.420 I want to be sometimes gentle with quotes because it is hard giving interviews sometimes

00:26:12.120 and to kind of mess up your words especially when you are talking about something more private like

00:26:18.560 sexuality there's a lot of pressure imagine being like a global cover star like you're going to be

00:26:23.620 on the cover of every Rolling Stones magazine in the freaking world and this is the interview for

00:26:29.100 like I'd be nervous uh-huh like you know the first quote that you just read out about it being 0.88

00:26:34.240 illegal I'm like oh Harry dear like it's homosexuality is so illegal in so many countries 0.54

00:26:39.540 but then the second para or the sentence that you read out about him figuring out his own 0.65

00:26:46.660 sexuality I think was quite vulnerable and I'm like yes this feels like where you are at the

00:26:51.040 moment with the quotes you're giving right it's like kind of dipping your toe in he feels quite

00:26:55.660 uncertain with what he's saying perhaps about himself or how much he wants to divulge as well

00:27:00.620 um but then I think the comment that picked up the most um negative traction was about like

00:27:06.320 this is like this is not a gay story about these guys being gay like it does you know we talked

00:27:13.000 about internalized homophobia the other week with you are and it does kind of give that vibe

00:27:19.300 yeah you kind of understand what he was trying to get across he's like basically saying it's more

00:27:25.360 than or like it's deep then but in that's also kind of problematic in itself i mean i think he

00:27:33.400 has a point in the sense like i do think gay men are hyper sexualized as well at times um so he's

00:27:39.100 trying to maybe push back on that but it did come off clunky for sure and actually a lot of gay men

00:27:45.740 were critiquing him on these quotes in particular as well he added that the sex scenes in my 0.89

00:27:51.080 policemen focus more so on emotional lovemaking rather than the physicality of intercourse 0.80

00:27:57.700 compared to his don't worry darling sex scenes with Florence Pugh. He says, so much of gay sex 1.00

00:28:04.760 in film is two guys going at it and it kind of removes the tenderness from it. There will be, 0.99

00:28:10.100 I would imagine, some people who watch it who are very much alive during this time when it

00:28:14.540 was illegal to be gay obviously he meets in the UK and director Michael wanted to show that it's

00:28:21.680 tender and loving and sensitive so now this brings us to today so Harry like you mentioned before

00:28:29.380 has skirted around questions about his sexuality for quite some time and he does often give these

00:28:35.780 very vague answers but this particular interview really did get people riled up we thought we'd

00:28:42.800 hear from our friend and colleague, Maddy Galea, who wrote a great piece for Pedestrian TV titled,

00:28:47.680 As both a gay man and Harry Styles fan, I don't know how to feel about his comments on queer

00:28:52.700 baiting. He's addressed the questions many times in interviews, telling people he's sexually fluid,

00:28:57.900 but doesn't want to label himself, all the while only publicly dating women. And therein lies the

00:29:02.720 issue. Harry's part of a generation of men who profit off queer culture by using parts of our 0.96

00:29:07.600 identity without actually identifying as queer, at least not publicly. So I do understand why 0.99

00:29:12.740 people are frustrated that Harry's being celebrated as super brave, because he hasn't actually had to

00:29:17.360 deal with nearly as much discrimination as us queer people. In my opinion, wearing a dress

00:29:22.220 in a photo shoot isn't as brave as openly identifying as queer in an incredibly homophobic

00:29:26.720 society. But on the other hand, why should Harry have to come out as anything? Just because he's

00:29:32.600 a singer, people think they have the right to question his sexual preferences.

00:29:37.600 Thank you so much, Maddie, for reading out some of your quotes.

00:29:40.880 I think it really does hit the nail on the head

00:29:43.400 of the kind of grey area of this conversation.

00:29:47.000 It doesn't really feel like there is a very mainstream

00:29:51.260 or popular train of thought about this as well.

00:29:54.860 Which, in my opinion, is what makes it so fascinating.

00:29:57.340 I feel like our discourse these days can be so black and white,

00:30:01.040 but this is very – everyone has their own opinion

00:30:05.380 and like it is like a confusing topic with lots of layers to it so some tweets we found from

00:30:14.140 people in the public one twitter user named kaylee said i don't think harry styles should have to

00:30:20.700 publicly divulge his sexuality but i do think he deserves criticism for tone deaf statements about

00:30:26.560 a community he refuses to fully align himself with except when he gets in press another person

00:30:32.800 tweeted why is it don't out someone don't force someone out of the closet clothes don't equal

00:30:38.660 sexuality until it's harry styles another one i loved was i don't think people realize that what

00:30:44.480 they're doing to harry styles in such gradual extents is pushing us backwards instead of

00:30:48.840 forwards heteronormativity and the rhetoric that you're straight until proven otherwise is so

00:30:53.980 damaging and that the train of thought kind of echoes what was my personal favorite take

00:31:00.080 from TikTok user Esaias, who says that we can't simultaneously want the normalization of 0.65

00:31:07.280 homosexuality, bisexuality, et cetera, while gatekeeping this queerness. So I'll add the 0.87

00:31:14.420 TikTok here because it's very powerful. I'm so sick and tired of the Harry Styles queer 1.00

00:31:20.940 baiting discourse. So let's talk about it. Isn't the entire goal of the queer community to create 1.00

00:31:26.640 a like society where we're accepted in order for us to be accepted we have to be normalized

00:31:32.800 because the reason oppression is a thing is because we are seen as different and the other

00:31:36.880 and therefore that's bad so the goal is normalization is being integrated and having

00:31:42.960 queerness integrated into mainstream society and everyone's like oh well he's profiting off of it

00:31:48.000 despite not identifying with it and i'm like first of all we live in a capitalist society um

00:31:53.200 everything's gonna get commodified. It's not Harry Styles's fault that him expressing himself

00:31:59.280 by wearing sparkly clothes or whatever is being taken in that way. Now if he was like actively

00:32:05.440 homophobic and actively harmful towards the community and still like profiting off of this

00:32:10.720 perceived idea of queerness like that's different but he's not doing that. You cannot be out here

00:32:16.320 begging for acceptance and normalization while also gatekeeping and gatekeeping in a way that

00:32:21.920 isn't actually productive at all like yes it sucks that if harry styles wears a dress he'll be fine

00:32:28.000 but if someone else wears a dress they might get hate crimed that's not harry styles's fault 0.91

00:32:33.140 in fact him wearing dresses and him doing all of this shit while still like not really talking 0.76

00:32:40.060 about his sexuality and kind of like separating these things from his sexuality is good for 0.95

00:32:44.640 society because then it won't mean that men who wear dresses are automatically gay and therefore 0.53

00:32:48.880 won't make them targets because we still live in a society that targets people and it's very

00:32:52.820 important to recognize that while also recognizing that all this going into mainstream is actually

00:32:58.100 progress progress is slow progress is incremental it's not saving the world obviously but these like

00:33:05.880 small things that people with platforms do to like make the world better for queer people is

00:33:11.800 actually very important and you being mad about the fact that he won't talk about his sexuality

00:33:16.720 he won't like openly date men is one still tying sexuality to like the way we dress and express 0.82

00:33:22.920 ourselves which is like not ideal and two people don't owe you shit about their sex lives that's 0.63

00:33:29.180 the whole point the whole point is that you shouldn't care who i'm sleeping with who that 0.60

00:33:34.240 person's sleeping with it doesn't matter and yet you're making it matter so much in his case i'm

00:33:40.700 so tired like go find other things to be mad about that tiktok had me nodding along the whole time

00:33:47.660 and i was like yes yes yes this is how i feel um i never really feel overly yeah i don't feel

00:33:54.740 confident kind of commenting on things like this because like we are new to the community and i

00:33:59.420 know there are so many great like queer researchers and people in the like academia space even who

00:34:04.380 really know their stuff about this but i have to say that i really agree with that tiktoker where

00:34:10.300 it's like why why are we being so controlling about the way that harry presents himself

00:34:18.760 and i don't know it feels like we're just trying to catch someone out that's such a good way to put

00:34:25.780 it that's definitely what twitter felt like it was very gotcha moment um when like if you read

00:34:32.460 like one sentence of those quotes we read out of course like we always say this but like context

00:34:37.940 is important. Hearing other quotes around a quote is important, not just like a little tweet grab

00:34:44.060 that can kind of catch fire and go on and on and on and get made fun of and stuff.

00:34:49.960 Another TikTok that popped up on my feed the other day was by the user Olivia L,

00:34:55.360 who says that Harry is currently at risk of being overexposed, which I kind of agree with. And I

00:35:01.340 want to bring it up because we are talking about him so much at the moment, but between his two

00:35:05.900 movies his tour and being the first global rolling stones cover star i think he's at this risk of

00:35:11.760 being put in the same basket as jennifer lawrence and anne hathaway like 10 years ago so like kind

00:35:17.920 of like being womaned but he's a man it's just like the overexposure i feel like chris evans

00:35:23.180 was kind of also a person who um got this and chris pratt but then chris pratt kind of went on

00:35:31.940 this like christian like right pipeline thing um but yeah there's people who are like all over

00:35:38.460 everything and then you get sick yeah i mean i was quite skeptical at this because i'm like

00:35:43.540 he has literally been so exposed for the last decade almost last decade since one direction

00:35:50.500 he has been one of the biggest i would say like pop figureheads but the reason why i'm like oh

00:35:57.120 I do think people are starting to get tired of it of him is I saw the Rolling Stone photos from

00:36:05.160 Instagram page or Lamode and in the comment section these are the top comments I'm tired

00:36:12.460 new king of pop is quite an exaggerated title though I'm getting Harry Styles fatigue it's

00:36:19.500 boring the king of what it's giving nothing blah blah blah blah and obviously this isn't his fan

00:36:26.600 base that we're talking to um but it was very interesting to see that because i open up the

00:36:32.220 comment section expecting people to be excited about the photos like i was but perhaps you're

00:36:37.760 onto something well i feel like a year ago or a bit over a year ago we were like grasping for

00:36:43.440 crumbs of harry styles like if there was one new photo shoot one new proper artsy shot it would be

00:36:48.040 on tiktok like oh my god like look at this oh look at chrome of harry and now it's like there's a new

00:36:53.380 photo shoot every week he's on tour like there's videos of him on your algorithm for you page um

00:36:59.600 so yeah the tiktok kind of goes into the fact that like his publicist should kind of pull him

00:37:05.820 back a little bit but i think after these roles he might kind of disappear for like a year or something

00:37:11.700 hello it's maggie from the future here i just wanted to say that before we get into this next

00:37:23.360 segment which is about olivia wilde's variety feature we did record this episode on thursday

00:37:30.160 25th of august yes you get to see how the sausage is made behind the scenes but anyway since then

00:37:37.580 a lot has come to light about Olivia's claims about firing Shia LaBeouf with him sharing

00:37:43.460 alleged text messages and videos from her. You might have even seen the infamous Miss Flow

00:37:49.300 video that Olivia sent him after she went horse riding of all things. Anyways we will play our

00:37:55.740 original segment now but would like to put a disclaimer that these were our opinions at the

00:38:00.800 time of recording which do differ now with the new info that has come to light. Happy listening!

00:38:07.580 Olivia Wilde has given a tell-all interview to Variety where she opens up about firing Shia LaBeouf, Harry and Florence's pay disparity and more.

00:38:18.720 We'll give you all the noteworthy, headline-worthy points from the very long interview, I might add, here today in this segment.

00:38:27.280 so the piece is titled olivia's wild ride directing don't worry darling making harry

00:38:33.220 styles a movie star and being blown the f away by florence pew by elizabeth wagmeister okay jazz

00:38:39.660 so do you know how this whole episode we were like oh poor joe and like harry and whatever

00:38:44.760 giving very subpar quotes in their interviews this is the opposite olivia was so well spoken

00:38:51.640 in this interview it kind of blew me away i was like did she pipe this up nope this was

00:38:57.120 in person she has come off to me which sounds silly it's obviously not like I underestimated

00:39:03.320 her but oh I don't want to say I have newfound respect for her but I just admire her more

00:39:08.340 okay and I think a lot of this interview actually revolved around her being a female director and

00:39:14.080 I found that really interesting so we have some points to get us started about that so of course

00:39:19.660 she made her directorial debut with Booksmart we love we love the film and it was really interesting

00:39:26.300 she was talking about how it was hard after her major success it was still hard to kind of get

00:39:32.800 that second chance at directing so she says that yes even though book smart was well loved it wasn't

00:39:39.840 like a box office smash so they made 25 million usd on a six million dollar budget that's surprising

00:39:47.580 to me because everyone i know like loved book smart so much they're like it's the best film

00:39:53.120 i've seen in like the last decade um so olivia says fewer people will invest in the second film

00:40:01.800 of a woman than a man i was so lucky my movie didn't make a billion dollars it struck enough

00:40:07.720 of a nerve of the cultural zeitgeist that i was allowed to have another opportunity

00:40:11.560 i really feel at this point that i've earned the right to say i'm a director yeah and in this

00:40:18.560 interview they talked about the staggeringly low number of women who have directed a film with a 0.98

00:40:26.020 100 million dollar budget obviously that's a lot of money but movies require a lot of money nowadays

00:40:32.220 so literally there are one two three four five women who have been given a budget this big

00:40:42.780 and these have all been released in the last five years this astounds like this blows me away so for

00:40:49.660 instance um eternals wonder woman mulan a wrinkle in time and barbie were the ones that we had that

00:40:57.060 they brought up they compared this to the incredible rom-com movie maker nancy myers

00:41:04.000 um her films have grossed over 1.4 billion dollars worldwide again usd and even she hasn't

00:41:13.200 been invited to the 100 million dollar club what's the 100 million dollar club as in like

00:41:19.660 she hasn't been given a film budget of 100 million dollars like one film and it's just like you know

00:41:25.380 and you can see her incredible incredible like accolades and movies that are so well loved um

00:41:32.840 i'll just get some examples so she's done the parent trap the intern the holiday father of the

00:41:38.700 bride just so many things the best the classics i love nancy myers so much one thing i noticed when

00:41:45.400 you're reading those out is that that yeah you said they were released in the past five years

00:41:49.320 which is post me too movement so like it has been such a shift in hollywood over the last

00:41:55.720 couple of years since hashtag me too okay what the the juicy girls want to hear it's about her 0.73

00:42:04.860 addressing the rumors of her and Florence Pugh's alleged feud again we love an alleged feud on

00:42:10.940 Culture Club today yeah last week we talked about that so head to our episode if you want the full

00:42:17.100 rundown but you know Olivia Wilde posting very flattering Instagram posts about Florence and

00:42:24.420 Florence not engaging with her at all etc in this interview Olivia talks about falling in love

00:42:31.520 essentially with Florence Pugh after watching Midsommar she even called her quote the most

00:42:37.180 exciting young actress working today interestingly though Florence declined to be interviewed for

00:42:43.520 the story though her publicist did say she's filming June 2 so who knows

00:42:50.320 so yeah last week we spoke about many don't worry darling rumors that surrounded these two 0.98

00:42:57.940 incredible women but one thing we hadn't touched on were the rumors about the pay disparity

00:43:03.000 where apparently harry was being paid more than three times the amount that florence was being

00:43:08.620 paid which i think we briefly touched on this like a couple weeks ago and i think both of us

00:43:14.760 were like no this can't be real this can't be was it was that on the podcast or was it just

00:43:19.640 no not on the podcast i think yeah sorry we might have yeah irl sorry everyone um yeah so i remember

00:43:27.520 hearing these rumors and thinking this cannot be real i don't believe that olivia would do this

00:43:32.020 and she actually does deny in this interview she says in an email later there's been a lot

00:43:39.120 out there that i largely don't pay attention to but the absurdity of invented clickbait and

00:43:44.040 subsequent reaction regarding a non-existent pay disparity between our lead and supporting actors

00:43:49.180 really upset me. I'm a woman who has been in this business for over 20 years, and it's something

00:43:54.240 that I've fought for myself and others, especially being a director. There is absolutely no validity

00:43:59.960 to those claims. This is what we want from celebrities. We need them to say, this is a

00:44:05.020 rumor. This isn't a rumor. Thank you. We can stop questioning. Sorry. It's true. And I think

00:44:11.820 that made me realize that I'm like, oh God, so much of what I know about Olivia in the past year

00:44:18.220 or so has been rumors or it's been things said about her like I actually haven't heard her speak

00:44:25.780 from the horse's mouth if you will and it was actually very nice to hear her own words about

00:44:32.460 issues like this and I think especially you know especially this interview she actually opened up

00:44:38.420 about firing Shia LaBeouf from the role so we're going to get into this this segment will deal a

00:44:45.420 bit with sexual harassment so there's a content warning here. Of course Harry Styles has landed

00:44:52.520 the role of leading man but initially he had turned down the role because he was touring and

00:44:58.180 his schedule didn't work out so Olivia hired Shia LaBeouf but in 2020 as production was just starting

00:45:05.240 Olivia made the decision to fire him and at the time the studio just said oh it was scheduling

00:45:11.460 conflict but now a good two years later she actually talked about it so olivia said i say

00:45:18.000 this as someone who is such an admirer of his work his process was not conducive to the ethos that i

00:45:23.220 demand in my productions he has a process that in some ways seems to require combative energy

00:45:29.360 and i don't personally believe that is conducive to the best performances i believe that creating

00:45:35.220 a safe trusting environment is the best way to get people to do their best work ultimately

00:45:40.840 my responsibility is to the production and to the cast to protect them that was my job she continues

00:45:47.840 a lot came to light after this happened that really troubled me in terms of his behavior

00:45:52.880 she said referring to um shire's ex fk twigs suing him for sexual battery she continues i find myself

00:46:02.700 just really wishing him health and evolution because i believe in restorative justice but for

00:46:08.680 our film what we really needed was an energy that was incredibly supportive particularly with a movie

00:46:15.220 like this I knew that I was going to be asking Florence to be in very vulnerable situations

00:46:21.100 and my priority was making her feel safe and making her feel supported I think that's very

00:46:27.320 important to speak out about and again face head on like this was the rumor at the time this is

00:46:34.160 what really happened and I wish him the best because it just gives everything so much more

00:46:39.060 substance rather than us questioning things and this is what I mean by like she did not mince her

00:46:46.900 words here she was so clear and I think it was interesting because like you pointed out before

00:46:53.040 Me Too happened here we're in this new era of filmmaking and here we see a director being

00:46:59.960 preemptive in their practices of set practices and wanting to support and protect their cast

00:47:07.100 and crew and I was like that's really impressive which is like it's very it's a very sad situation

00:47:12.820 hey like we of course wish we didn't have to have conversations in situations like this but the fact

00:47:17.840 that she was really looking out for her for her cast members I mean according to her words but

00:47:24.220 I think that's very something to be respected and also it's great to I guess normalize in the

00:47:29.940 industry or like oh directors are actually thinking about elements like this blah blah blah

00:47:34.700 definitely another thing I really wanted to talk to you about that I've seen a little bit on

00:47:39.940 TikTok is the headline that Variety used for this cover the headline says she's so golden

00:47:48.520 and it's about Olivia's movie this made me so mad do you think again I'm gonna make up a little

00:47:58.660 rumor do you think that i mean with our experience in journalism interviewees do not get any say in

00:48:07.480 you know editorial uh choices headlines etc do you think that florence do you think that olivia

00:48:17.220 knew that this would be the headline or do you think that she's seen at the same time and she's 0.65

00:48:22.740 like eye twitching at the fact that you know her big interview before her second directorial film 0.81

00:48:30.440 comes out is obviously associated with the guy she's dating oh yeah she definitely had no idea

00:48:38.500 I think um and it's cheeky it's very cheeky because you can't read she's so golden without

00:48:45.320 without having you're so golden um in your head regret doing that but um but yeah it's so

00:48:52.380 frustrating hey because she is such an incredible woman aka like actor and director in her own right

00:49:00.020 but of course like to sell magazines to sell articles it's her relationship with Harry like

00:49:04.760 when I was reading this article I was waiting for the points where she's going to talk about

00:49:08.340 Harry you know as well like I'm guilty of that so the points where she actually does speak about

00:49:14.100 hurry. Olivia says, I'm not going to say anything about it because I've never seen a relationship

00:49:19.420 benefit from being dragged into the public arena. We both go out of our way to protect our

00:49:25.060 relationship. I think it's out of experience, but also just out of deep love. In this interview,

00:49:30.320 she also speaks about when her ex-husband, Jason Sudeikis, served her with papers and

00:49:36.820 custody papers for their kids while she was on stage at like presenting her film. Don't worry,

00:49:43.640 darling comic-con yeah at comic-con and she's saying like there's a reason why i left that

00:49:50.480 marriage like it was really unnecessary there's a reason why i left kind of thing

00:49:54.320 that was a kind of spicy take as well and to end this segment as well i kind of want us to read

00:50:02.000 some of her quotes around celebrity gossip and just the culture of i guess a clickbait as well

00:50:09.160 I find them quite interesting so we'll read them now. The whole culture of celebrity gossip is

00:50:14.380 interesting as a distracting tool to numb people from the greater pains of the world. Escapism is

00:50:20.240 really a very human quality searching for something to anesthetize a painful reality of so many

00:50:26.520 people's lives. I don't blame people for seeking escapism but I think the tabloid media is a tool

00:50:32.900 to pit women against one another and to shame them. Olivia continues, listen I'm not asking

00:50:38.820 for any sort of pity my life is extraordinary I'm thrilled with my life but I do wish for the

00:50:44.280 betterment of society in general that we could all disengage from a cycle of bullying and hatred

00:50:49.040 we've just lost empathy and we just don't give people the benefit of the doubt specifically 0.54

00:50:53.640 women we just assume the worst from women and I don't know why powerful quotes yeah okay I was

00:51:00.760 hoping you're gonna say that because when I first read them I definitely felt the same I was like 0.89

00:51:03.960 wow great words and then when I was rereading them I was like I hope he's not giving like

00:51:08.380 what was that silly song that the celebrities sung at the start of the pandemic imagine yeah i hope

00:51:14.500 it's not giving imagine but i think no i'm proud that she did that because she's been thrown

00:51:20.460 through my mail and she's like copped it from all angles so yeah this interview from olivia has made

00:51:28.020 me even more excited to see don't worry darling because we have been focusing so much on harry

00:51:32.440 Florence but I'm really keen to see her directorial stance again and also to do like a thriller drama

00:51:38.860 when Booksmart was such a like coming-of-age comedy they're very different um so yeah promise

00:51:46.360 we won't speak about this next episode we promise it's time for recommendations Jazz let us know if

00:51:58.360 there's something that you've read, watched, listened to that you've really loved this week.

00:52:02.940 Yes. So this recommendation is a little heavier than recent recommendations and I want to put a

00:52:09.620 content warning here for eating disorders and poor mental health. On Sunday morning, I was laying in

00:52:14.960 bed on Instagram and saw Good Weekend, which is the ages, you know, Sunday newspaper, the Instagram

00:52:22.840 and something really caught my attention and the headline read, simmering beneath the surface,

00:52:28.360 the awful spike in eating disorders during lockdown by Chip DeGrand. So it talks about

00:52:34.260 the hidden costs of lockdown, which obviously worked and were really important. Like we were

00:52:40.020 both big advocates for lockdowns, for keeping our community safe. But I think now it's an

00:52:45.780 interesting time because maybe we're at a bit more of a distance from it where we can kind of

00:52:51.420 critique them a little bit or not critique lockdown specifically, but like talk about and

00:52:56.620 get things out in the open that happened when we were protecting our grandma. So it starts with the

00:53:03.840 story of Gabrielle, who was the same age as me when the pandemic began, which was 23. So she began

00:53:09.800 running as an outlet for the lockdowns, which resonated a lot, but it slid into an eating 0.97

00:53:15.720 disorder. And I'll read out some of the piece now. Gabrielle's escape was running. In the depths of

00:53:22.900 Melbourne winter when everything else had stopped in its tracks there was something about running

00:53:27.220 through the streets of her neighborhood the rhythm of her breath and the purpose of her gait that

00:53:31.880 made her feel as though she were getting somewhere even if she always finished in the same place she

00:53:36.680 started. She had run since she was a girl now that she was 23 it felt as though running was the only

00:53:42.940 thing in her life that still made sense. Under Victoria's 2020 state of disaster decree when

00:53:48.140 Melbourne endured the harshest COVID-19 restrictions of any Australian city, Gabrielle was allowed

00:53:53.520 outside for one hour a day to exercise. She set goals for how many kilometers she could cover in

00:53:59.400 that hour, in a week, in a month. Sometimes she didn't feel like running at all. As a second of

00:54:05.300 what would become six lockdowns totaling 262 days were on, she felt listless and irritable.

00:54:11.920 There were mornings when it took all her energy to get out of bed, other mornings when she'd stare

00:54:15.840 at the wall for several hours, at a loss about what to do next. Eventually, though, she always

00:54:21.200 ran, harder and further, as if to show her own body who was in control. She didn't know that

00:54:27.380 her heart had slowed. She didn't realise her blood pressure was dangerously low. She didn't

00:54:31.820 know that to protect her health, she needed to run less and eat a lot more. Even if she had known,

00:54:37.700 she probably couldn't have done anything about it. Once anorexia gets into its stride,

00:54:41.820 it can be diabolical to stop so obviously this is a very heavy read but if you struggled with

00:54:49.960 any of those feelings not just anorexia but kind of any mental health things which I feel

00:54:55.040 would have been the most of us then it feels very this piece felt very refreshing to feel

00:55:01.520 seen because it talks not just about anorexia but about like you know us losing two years of our

00:55:09.440 youth to the pandemic which you and I have spoken about before on the podcast like it's obviously a

00:55:13.120 very touchy topic um so yeah it just it features incredible experts and psychologists and just

00:55:22.440 explores like the kind of consequences of the lockdowns that we all went through

00:55:28.740 thank you for sharing that jazz and thanks for reading out some of that piece um that was so

00:55:33.820 well written I definitely want to read more of Chip's work as well and I want to read that full

00:55:39.080 piece so appreciate you sharing that recommendation with us and what have you been watching reading

00:55:46.340 listening to this week i've actually been on a bit of a book roll i guess you could call it

00:55:53.280 and i am going to be recommending our most recent book club read so you can comment on it if you

00:56:00.660 have finished it right now i should mention and it is called happy hour and it is written by

00:56:07.420 marlo granados so one of our lovely book club friends live recommended us um this book because

00:56:16.000 it's very much kind of the vibe of my year of rest and relaxation which to be honest i had not read

00:56:21.820 but i am a sucker for that kind of drama almost memoir style read i don't know how to pinpoint

00:56:27.660 that genre but kind of sally-esque like self-reflective and person-driven young woman

00:56:34.960 going through something that's it just a young woman just doing that and this is essentially

00:56:40.120 that so the main protagonist of this book is Issa so she's 21 years old she's a woman of color she

00:56:48.940 moves to New York with her best friend and you know on the surface level the little summaries

00:56:53.900 like you know they have a vintage clothing store together they kind of go to cool parties and

00:57:00.080 hang out with interesting people but yeah I mean that's essentially the book

00:57:05.240 but I found it really quite um entertaining to read I find the characters both fascinating a

00:57:14.960 bit infuriating a bit admirable quite different to myself you know this person is so self-assured

00:57:22.260 she's so she's got so much gumption she just like grabs lives by the horns like so different to me

00:57:28.480 so I just found it so entertaining to read um and yeah I enjoyed it it's a pretty short book

00:57:35.160 but it does take a little while to get through I would say it's not something that you kind of

00:57:39.240 speed read or anything um it's just under 300 pages but I enjoyed it and I enjoyed the

00:57:46.960 discussions that came out of book club you know I might give this an eight out of ten

00:57:51.100 yeah I struggled to get through this one I thought the writing was really good

00:57:57.620 and the prose was really good but like the story is a little slow for me it was like a bit it was

00:58:02.900 like walking through honey almost like super sweet but just like a bit uh you know but I'm

00:58:08.300 glad that you enjoyed it I can't remember I think I gave it a three in book club out of 10 was it 0.97

00:58:13.660 out of five so sorry we said we said that ratings out of 10 was stupid

00:58:21.100 i know and i'm so offended because um if people look at my instagram sometimes i post book reviews

00:58:28.020 and i do them out of 10 and i do like 0.1s wow so it'd be like 7.9 blah blah blah i'd probably

00:58:34.780 give this book 8.1 you know but no one asked for that i remember the decimal point well i'm indecisive

00:58:42.300 you know so anyway um that's the end of this fun spontaneous episode i'm glad that we had

00:58:50.400 this late night record hey me too okay now for real we actually are going on a little break for

00:58:57.500 a couple weeks yeah two weeks something pretty nice so i'll see you when i'm like back in gel

00:59:03.860 act gorgeous can't wait for that but thank you again listeners for listening like you always do

00:59:11.740 we so appreciate you who actually know we're a podcast oh my god we get so many comments on

00:59:16.100 instagram being like wow you're a podcast like no idea so thank you for knowing we're a podcast

00:59:21.160 okay talk to you later bye

Culture Club - August 30, 2022

She's So Golden

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