Episode 18: "You ever feel like performing a poem?" and Evy Takes A Spelling Test

Souvenir.

my god, grade five? Wait, I can't even picture the word.

It's so hard seeing it and not I mean not seeing it.

The Okay. S O U R V E N I R Wait, what did I even just say? I don't even

You said sour veneer.

And that's called panic.

Hello, hello. Welcome back to catching up with Liz and Evy.

Good morning, my little ketchup buttles.

My little ketchup.

Tomatoes red tomatoes. What

We love it.

do we call our fans? Can you imagine actually having fans? I feel like that would be nuts.

Fans of of Yeah, exactly.

Fans of what? Yeah. Exactly. It's really nice to see your face, Liz. How is how are you? How was your weekend? Good. Tell Ebbie. You know? Tell Ebbie.

Good. Weird weekends. No, not weird. It was nice. We just didn't have anything going on, really.

Yeah, same.

Yeah. Beautiful. First one in a while.

Mm-hmm.

but what do we do? Thursday night was nice. We'd had friends over for dinner. And I've been saying forever I want to do like a Love Island theme party. And

Yes, yes.

with our one friend group, we kinda like rotate. It's random. There's no set schedule, but like somebody will throw in, come over for Thursday night dinner. And I feel like we've been pretty consistent with maybe like once a month, give or take a few months we've skipped, but like They it's been really nice. So anyway, I was like threw it in the chat. I was like, all threw the night dinner. And I like also slight Love Island theme.

So just like threw some decorations up. I have a neon sign that's from

Your wedding.

Yeah, from our wedding. That I was in my parents' attic the other day and I saw it and I was like, This is a sign, literally that we need to have the Love Island theme. So threw that up, threw a couple other signs up, and then we did little like challenges as games. I'd like text people. I texted Andrew and he goes, I gotta text like Islanders, please meet for dinner in the

Yeah, that's so cute.

He's really cute.

It was That's the spice that life needs.

I know. It was fun. We have a little like bubble machine for Rio. So every time people walked in I had the bubble machine going. Welcome to Casa de Junko.

This is so fun.

It was fun. So now I want to do a traitors theme party in the fall.

Okay, wait, so when does trader start? And obviously we'll watch that together.

it's so good.

What?

I don't know when it starts. I wanna say September or October. Beautiful. Might be later than that.

Here's what I'm understanding about reality television in general is that like all television, there are tiers to this and there's good quality reality television. And it seems that Traders is really good quality. And I'm excited about that.

For sure.

Well what else would say is like good quality? Like Love Island? Okay.

No, no.

Good. Because I wouldn't I didn't want that to be.

no, Traders is really well done. I'd say like a lot of the game show style ones, like Survivor, is that what it's called? Okay.

Fair enough.

I haven't seen it. I've seen like spin offs, like Where they do like that style, but that literally had just had its fiftieth season and people are huge fans.

No, yeah. I I do wish I could jump into a fandom like that. That would be really cool.

Yeah, yeah. And that's where so Boston Robb, have you heard of him? Yeah? Boston

I've heard of Boston.

Rob Survivor. I think his wife was too, like that's how they met. And he was on Trader, like he's done like a bunch of stuff. Yeah.

Yeah. But like White was on Survivor, White Lotus. Yeah. I know it's been on forever, so I know some of the lore.

Right.

It's like a grey's anatomy at this point.

Literally. Where have I Yeah, I think that one's well done. I can't I don't know, off the top of my head.

No, but anyway, that party sounds that just sounds so sweet and little

It was yeah, it was very sweet. It was fun.

touches like that make it feel less of like I'm just ha I'm hosting people for dinner and more like we're here to play. We're about to

Right. Exactly. Exactly. And I think having like an entrance as people walk in was like this is gonna be fun. Exactly.

That's the vibe. That's it.

Exactly. I made it's called Marry Me Chicken. Have you seen it on TikTok?

Yeah, I've definitely made it.

Yeah, it's really good. Here I didn't make quite enough. I set the I set the recipe online. I think we're having like twelve pe eleven people. And I was like just like upped it to fourteen. And I'm like, okay, it should be good. I there pe peop went back for a second and then I was like, oof.

No one well yeah. Well that's just a testament to your cookie. So

Yeah.

like no one takes ever one serving of anything in my opinion. No.

I know. And like it's like bigger servings.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

But whatever. That's I feel like I had something else. whenever Andrew and I do something now, like we do whatever, it's like, you did all that and you did it with a baby. Wow. Just like make ourselves feel good. It's like we did all that and we did it with a baby.

I mean you should do that. Pat yourselves on the back as much as you can.

Yourself on the back, girl.

Pat your head and rub your belly at the same time. Wow.

Yeah. I'm doing it

Holy shit. No, that's awesome and true.

Then Friday we literally just chilled, cleaned up a little bit. just like I think Angie mowed the lawn. I don't

Let's go.

know. It was just like very chill. Got a ton of laundry done. Saturday, really similar vibe.

Nice.

and then Saturday night we celebrated my mother in law's birthday. Her birthday's on the third. So

Nice. Two sway.

yeah, went down to P. F. Chang's

Hell yeah.

Somewhere she always wants to go for her birthday. It's so funny.

That's awesome. That's awesome honestly. I feel like assign the spot, that way you know where you're going. Bada bing bada boom.

No, i yeah, exactly. Yeah. No, it it was nice. It was nice.

My notes is

Would you do?

also nice. Yesterday, almost less than nothing, you know? Like we accidentally binged a show, which was

Love you.

The Night Manager. It's like it's like an actiony spy thingy. It's got not Benedict Cumberbatch, but the other one. Tom Hiddleston. The other one. The other one. Loki. And Olivia Coleman, who we know from the Wicker Trailer. They did like a season in 2016 and then they recently just came out with a season two this year, so ten years later. So we were like, interesting. And we watched the first season. It was good. It was kind of like a John Jack Ryan situation.

I don't know, but it's British. And they're all British.

Anything with British is it's definitely

Yeah. I think my mom like got I think my mom bought the Brit Box subscription on Amazon. Which I know. I was like, wait a minute, did I pay for this? And I'm like, I know those last four digits. Those that's my mom's credit card. I know those. and so I'm just we're just like taking advantage. Which I watched the other Bennett sister on Britbox on the is it good? No, it's unbelievable. Like I actually like I think I'm gonna rewatch it like soon.

Like it's it was so incredibly good.

There's something about like anything where it's like a pride and prejudice vibe.

I know, I know. I wanna say like stop making iterations, but you know what? Don't.

No, like there again. You know what like they just feel good.

And this one, it was like a beautiful blend of like still that era and modern like things, you know what I mean?

But for people are doing that more, I feel like like modern soundtrack with a Yes. Like a little bit more modern fashion touches. I'm thinking of Wuthering Heights right now.

Okay. Okay. And then you know, Wicker, there you go. Wicker. I can't stop mentioning that. And then I did just watch There's a new show on Netflix. I am overdosing on T V right now, if you can't tell. it's not good. It's good to get back to work now and T

Yeah, yeah.

V away. I already blocked all of the social media apps on my phone for the day. I did that at seven AM. Smart. It was like the

Yeah.

totally like I had a nice sluggish weekend and I need to not carry that over. Exactly. That's the danger. That's the danger.

Exactly, exactly. That is definitely the danger.

Literally. anyway. I did also start there's a new show on Netflix called My Brilliant Career, which is like 1900s Australia. okay. About a young yeah. A young woman who wants to be a writer and is also trying like her family needs her to get married so they're not destitute anymore. L O L same old, same old. But But it's actually like interestingly done. Like the choices they make are like not annoying. Like the boys that she ends up flirting with like hurt her feelings and then she confronts them and then they're friends and then they're and then they flirt again and then they're like, Are we flirting?

Should we not? Maybe we shouldn't, but maybe we should.

Don't we?

sorry. But it's all of that to say, like it's not like annoying, passive aggressive anything. It's all very like out in the open, which I really like. And the character is like A true weird girl. She's not like weird for one episode and then becomes this like fancy lady. She stays really, really eccentric and I like that a lot. Yeah. Anyway, I wasn't expecting to like it ps that much, but it's good. I have two updates for you.

Okay. I write a new book. my god.

And I watched Sterling Point.

my god. Okay. I also have a book to update you on and I watch the Odyssey. So you go first. no.

Sterling Point, yeah. It's so good. I cried maybe like three times. Yeah. Yeah. It's just it was so sweet. Every character is like so perfectly themselves. Really,

Exactly. It was

really cute.

That's what it was. Like really every character seemed so locked into their characters.

Character. Yes.

Which like was I felt so like like grateful. I was like, thank you. That was so good. And it didn't look that hard. I was like we should be doing more of this.

We should be doing more of this. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, just like very sweet, really well done. I love that they left it like, okay, easily could do a second season.

And also like if I know and I would I assume they're gonna do one, but like also not the worst ending for if it needed to just be eliminated. It was really, really nice.

Exactly. It was really nice. I will say not that I it bothered me at all, but like there was one twist too many with the whole parent thing.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I honestly I feel like it was all shot and she was like a few different endings. And then just happened to like use all or something. I don't know.

Yeah, like play into every single one. Like

That yeah.

again, it didn't really bother me. Okay, this is a spoiler if you have not seen it. Just spoiler for the last like thirty seconds. but having Joe be Ramona's dad and then not be Ramona's dad, I thought was unnecessary.

I yeah, what it's yeah. I don't know what to think about it because I guess he

And

he thought he was for this whole time.

So now I'm like, you're just like a shitty person for

For nothing.

for nothing. Yeah, exactly. So that's a whole weird dynamic. But

I ag yeah, I don't know.

then like Alice and him were related, but then they weren't and they're not. Yeah. I just thought it was unnecessary. We can just make the twist be that she's their biological.

It was definitely a lot of like there's a lot going on. And then yeah, like the poor kid is like, Can we stop dropping bombs on me? And we're like, another one

Right, exactly.

It yeah, I agree. There was definitely that. It almost felt like the immaturity was the reality of their lives. Like like the like I don't even know. I I don't know. It was so good though. It almost just didn't even matter what the plot was 'cause the characters No.

Exactly. Exactly. That wasn't that wasn't it. I wish we also got a little bit more of an answer to was it Steve? Is the dad Steve and Goldie's like relationship and why it actually ended? Like it didn't dive so much into it. There's like one kind of brief conversation. Which makes sense and answered the question, but not why there was like completely no contact. with Gordon, the grandfather, after Goldie died. Like his issue wasn't with Gord you know?

So

It definitely seemed like the adults were the most like fucked up in this situation and they made a horrible decision.

They made horrible decisions. Yeah. Exactly. Which is like the whole premise of the show, but

It w yeah. These are these are good critiques, I think. This is yeah. The the book I read was Into the Blue by Emma Brody, I think is her name. And I read it for book club, but it was on my list. It's been making the rounds on the TikToks, on the Instagrams, on the it's just a very popular book right now. And I was intrigued because it's a romance. It's a love story. It says it on the cover, a love story.

And I feel like Obviously love stories get a lot of attention, but not always from like the places I was seeing it get attention, like New York Times bestseller, and like Reese's Book Club. and the people who were reading it from Reese's book club, Reese What This Women's Book Club recommendations were like normally this book club recommendations aren't that great, but this was a really good suggestion. So I was intrigued by that, especially because it seemed just like a love story.

I don't know. But the story, without giving too much away, really focuses on two people's connection, their ability to connect to each other, how they nurture that connection because they're both actors. And it the book spends like a decent amount of time trying to explain to you what it feels like to improv as an actor. And I found that part of the book so interesting. a lot of it like the the culmination, the climax of the book is a lot of it hinges on their ability to act and their trust in each other and acting, which I found very interesting.

Are you talking about like obviously acting as hard on relationships for multiple reasons? Like traveling away for certain period of times but also like acting like like a romance with another actor. Okay.

No, so it's hard to explain without giving too much away.

And don't.

Just like they're improv actors and so the thing that the author tries to communicate is that these two people, when they act together, they like disappear into a different world and they are able to like communicate with each other in ways that you cannot otherwise.

interesting. Okay.

So a a huge part of the book is about that connection and their ability to slip into the cosmic consciousness, which is like very part of it is like super cringy. And part of it is just like, you know, the author asks you to just like believe in this with them. Anyway, I found it made me really look at actors differently or just like wonder who who of them are doing this. Yeah. And like I found that like the kids of Sterling Point, it made me think of them in a way of like I could see their characters just like come to life in a way that wasn't about effort.

I don't know. It was about just like trust in each other, you know, and trusting each other to help create this this little make believe world. I don't know. I I found the entire thing so interesting. And a lot of the book is like hard to get through it, honestly, because the characters are like really fucking annoying most of the time. but it that part was fascinating. So I need you to read it. Okay. And acting is interesting.

Yeah. Very.

It's like getting into any creative flow, I think, but like that creative flow being your connection with another person is very interesting.

Yeah. Especially

Super vulnerable.

someone you're in love with and in a relationship with.

Right. Which they're not. For most of the book they're not in a relationship. But they yeah. Anyway, it's interesting.

Okay, I am excited to read it. Yeah.

What you read?

I read The Knight and the Moth. Have you

I just started this. I

Did you really? Yes.

just bought it and I read like fifty pages this morning.

Okay. It's like a fantasy book. It's exactly like the yeah, I like that it gets it's long in a good way. 'Cause like it like completes the story. I keep I was like I don't know why I'm I Kindle, the percentage at the bottom is gone. Like

Uh-huh.

I don't know what I clicked, what setting, whatever. But as I'm reading it, I'm like, I'm pretty I feel like I'm far into this book and I I'm like, but we're still not close to like the completion of like the journey that they're on. So I was like nervous that they were gonna end it without completing that journey, but they didn't. They completed the journey and then there is a second book. Okay. But I was like, okay, like I I'm like I can like put this down though because I know how this part of the story ends and I can pick up something else.

Yeah. Because I think I feel like with fantasy books, sometimes I'm like I need to know the story and how it ends, but like I also kind of need a break from the fantasy world. It's all consuming. Yeah. but no, it was like my favorite part about it is the banter. with each other. Like the conversations are funny.

Really enjoy the writing style. Yeah.

Yes.

It's really good.

Same. It's really good. It gets like a little creepy at the end.

Good.

Like it's a good I know. I'm like

Between the characters or between

spoo hooky. Something else. Just like what you find out about the world.

Okay. I'm intrigued. I love I really like the writing style, so that's awesome.

Yeah. No, it's good. It's definitely

There was a line that really made me laugh. I won't search for it because it'll take me a minute, but

Of course.

there was no line where I was like, there's we get to be humorous. This is

No, exactly. So you don't think it would be. No. Basically the premise is like this girl it it's like this again fantasy world. This girl is a diviner, it's called. And like it's like six she's one of six people and they are this like sacred part of this like sacred religion of this world. And like they wear like a dress and a shroud over their eyes and they are only like allowed to be in this cathedral.

So like you think that they'd be like super naive and innocent and whatever. And like they are, but they're also not. Like they've had sex, they joke about things, like like not all shops, but yeah, exactly.

I just read that scene. I was like, they all be they all be sneaking out. shit.

Yeah, exactly. So like it's funny. It's it's like a little bit refreshing in that aspect. Like, okay, I don't have to like go on a journey of her discovering her like you do, but not entirely. Like it's not like she's completely naive too.

feels like a normal like seventeen year old in a way. Like

Exactly.

you have plenty to discover, but you're not an idiot.

Exactly. Yeah. It's really it's it's yeah, I it's funny to read.

Yeah. I'm excited. I'm excited. That's kinda like the what you're saying, like lengthwise and journey wise. That's kinda inner the blue where it's it's longer than the night of the moth. by like a hundred or fifty pages. And but it does completely wrap an entire like two people's lives in that book, which is really nice.

Yeah. Yeah, that's what I like. It's like it doesn't it's not like there's a for the night in the mouth, there's a second book because it ends where you're like, like that's okay. There needs to be a second book to finish the story. But the first one is a completely fully finished story and I like that a lot.

I love that. Yes. Rebecca Ross, who wrote Wild Reverence. She's like did the blurb for this book, so I was like, okay. And a friend recommended it to me as well. I feel like fantasy for me is like they're making a comeback in my like respect. Yeah. Where I'm just like, I read so many terrible fantasy books that now I'm I'm getting fed a few good ones and it it feels nice.

Yeah, I know it's great. Good. The thing

I need to read the

about fantasy is they're so predictable. Sometimes it's so like repetitive. Yes. But this one isn't. It's not it's

Like a refreshing good story takes a lot of time. Like you can't rush a good fantasy novel.

Mm-hmm.

That's the beauty of them. you know, and it's I do try to get into like the Brandon Sanderson, but I really can tell, like, you can really tell a man's fantasy world from a woman's fantasy world.

What's Brandon Sanderson?

Well, I'm glad you asked. He is one of the most famous, like I don't even know what I mean, I guess I would say fantasy authors, but like he has like at least twenty something books. did he write The Wheel of Time? He wrote the Mistborn series, The Stormborn? I don't know. But he but he d he does write good things and Connor has read all of his books. And I've read the Mistborn series and it is good.

Yeah, of course. Like no one's like that popular and doesn't have like good stories. Yeah.

But yeah, there's just in fantasy, there's just like absolutely a connotation on men and women. Like men get this like, it's medieval, there's swords, like, therefore it's like respected. Whereas like, you know, I'm not a Sarah J. Mass fan, but also like she's never gonna get that respect ever. or even be considered for that. you know.

Like in like sh shall never be held like

There's just such a different standard. I don't know.

Yeah. Yeah.

I just feel like they're talked about so differently.

Yeah. I don't know. I don't know

No so differently.

Brandon Sanderson. So and like I

Brandon Sanderson is very like almost dry and that's a that's an opinion. I don't yeah, I haven't read enough.

Talking about like his fan base. Like I haven't heard people who are like such a huge fan of him. I have heard people who are big fans of Sara J. Mass, but like Yeah. I can't I can't compare

Right. And that's that's

but I do believe. Yeah.

Birds, I tell you.

People from Sarah J. Mass, this is a side note. Yeah. I saw a couple things where it's like I was because she has these it's apparently like one massive book but coming out in different volumes. And they're it's coming out soon, like September or October. I don't know exactly when, but it's coming out this fall. and she announced it back in the spring, maybe. So it's been a couple months, and like I wanna say, I don't know if the title of the book has been revealed, but like the colors of it have been revealed, whatever.

Yeah. But I've seen so many a couple, not so many, I've seen a couple videos on TikTok where it's like, I am so looking forward to this book coming out, but like not anymore because of the marketing for it. And like along those lines. And I was like, What what did she like? Did she like fumble the marketing? Like what happened? And all that happened is she didn't reveal anything.

What?

She just revealed like the color of the book and like that's it. There's no there so people are upset. And I'm like, that she hasn't like given them any books. And I'm like, what?

The plot. What? That's really dumb. I'm

So you're

a fan are you a fan of this or not? Like

was so confused by like but people are generally like like ta like disappointed like talking about how they're not gonna read these books anymore. They were so excited for it. They're not anymore because of like how she's treating her fans essentially. And I'm like, what are what are you have to talk about?

I hate that so much. If this is why like this is one of the reasons I don't really like joining fandoms. Because like then you get into that weird zone of like now you care about the person. And we get proven time and time again that the person will disappoint you.

I think fandoms It's goes deeper than just the stories that the author tells. It's like the Easter eggs, the next book, the per like the author themselves and their life. And I'm like, I don't need that. I just I'm a fan of like the book and the story and the characters in the story.

And that's the point. And I know mo that's I don't know whatever. I've heard some authors say like this is why they no don't want to be on social media, this is why they don't want to do press. This is why they don't wanna anything. Because the work is supposed to stand on its own and

Right.

they don't wanna answer the question of what is this about? Well, really it can be about anything to anyone. Exactly. I know what it was about when I wrote it, but that doesn't matter anymore. Once I publish this, it's yours, it's not mine. That's like One of the cool things, supposedly.

Supposedly. See, okay, I know here's a good point. Like, does Robert Sandor Sanderson is that his name? Brandonson.

Brandon Sanderson.

Brandon Sanderson.

You got it.

classic white male name. Brandon Sanderson Brandon.

Literally.

But I'm sure his fandom does is not like this at all.

No, I'm sure they are. I'm sure there's I'm sure there's sex of sex S E C T S

Yeah.

I'm sure there's I'm sure there's parts of everyone's fan on that that gets little too much, you know what mean? Like go on Reddit one time. There's gonna

True, true. You know what I mean? It's like

Yeah. It's more mainstream. Yeah.

Like the internet like stoning someone who does.

Yeah. Like Yeah, I don't

One move that they don't

I don't know the opinions of Brandon Sanderson's people really. I just know him in the most general sense. Okay. and it's on my list of like books to go and read and see if if I have an opinion on as an adult. But No, I just think that's like any fandom really is going to be annoying at some point. But if you're a true fan you You just like want more material, I guess? I don't know.

I'm thinking of things that are maybe more like have bigger or have a big fandom but maybe more male centric, like Lord of the Rings or Star Wars. Yeah. And like there's definitely some criticism for all the new Star Wars movies and everything.

A hundred percent. Yeah. There's and especially if you're a big fan of something and you're a big fan of the originals of something, it's basically like something in your brain switches and you can no longer like anything new from that. Like I don't even know. Absolutely. And that kind of annoys me, but I understand it. It's just like there's a time to be critical and then like, I don't know, let yourself enjoy something.

Okay, so what are your thoughts on the new Harry Potter series?

Liz, JK Rowling stays so problematic. I like I really it's really pissing me off.

Because so here's the thing, I've never seen anything directly from her. I've just seen people talking about how problematic she is. And then I hear like something she said and I'm like, ooh.

Well it's not really even what she well, it is what she says, but as far as I understand it right now, it's the the amount of money she gives to organizations that are actively creating laws. Like it's it's it's way more in the sphere of like actually enacting bad things. Yeah. Like she bankrolling

Usually that

bankrolling turf politicians, meaning people against doing things against trans people in the UK. Like in a in an extremely proactive manner.

That's crazy.

It's really unfortunate. Like and that's the problem I have. Because if I really do I honestly don't even know if I can go I kinda want like the Harry Potter books just to have. But I like I honestly don't even want to go buy them. Like maybe at a yard sale I'd

That yeah, there you go. That is so unfair.

I know, it sucks.

If Harry Potter is like like she is like stabbing millennials in the heart because we grew up loving

I know, it's horrifying.

this story. And a younger too. Like and then

And I'm not gonna judge anyone.

Off of this giant it be it becomes so big because it's so good and then she's profiting off of it and then her d like

And it used to be that she was like such a philanthropist and like I'm sure she still is. And like she did all these things that were later like she she like started a couple like orphanages or something. But like later in life, I people were like, Hey, orphanages are like for profit, like blah, blah, blah. And I was like, shit. Yeah. That's not good either. I just like don't I really I don't have the facts in front of me.

But like I really just like I just I really can't and this is the thing that comes up all the time. But like, can you separate the art from the artist? And I think it's very subjective. Every I I don't judge anyone for how they decide to to handle that. But for me, I'm just like, I'm not enjoying this. So I no. Will I watch the new series? Like I can't say I won't and for sure.

I want to. I want to watch it. I pay for HBO. So like Am I really paying for I guess with my eyeballs I am support I don't know I don't know. I'm adding to their numbers. I don't know.

Yeah.

I don't know, Liz. I feel conflicted.

that is.

No judgment on anyone who's gonna I like Harry Potter is so beloved. Like it's not like I'm never gonna engage Harry Potter ever again. I just I don't find it easy. And I hate that. And

Yeah.

it's her fault.

Absolutely it is. Well I'm glad we already opened it

Poor trans rights. The trans peoples are really going through it right now. They're being attacked left, right, and center. It really is. And it's obviously a diversion from things that actually matter. Alert people.

No, it's like peop like they're making like trans people out to be this like huge enemy where I'm like this is such a small portion of the population and there are so many issues that

They're so enough going on. Leave them alone. People are so dumb.

Exactly. People are so dumb.

So easily manipulated. Mm-hmm. Anyway. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Well now I now I I didn't know that that she was like actively

I know. Well like and on fact check that, but that's definitely

That makes more sense for how much like Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah.

I still can't watch the Harry Potter

Do you people? This is not a an this is no advice to anyone. That's just those are my feelings.

Well, let's take that part out of it for a second. I guess yeah about Harry Potter is whatever. Whatever. Take that out of it for a second. We have the classic movies. that are I don't know, twenty ish years old now. We're getting a remake of the same story

Mm-hmm. I

I'm not mad that they're remaking the same like people are mad that they're remaking the same story. It's like don't touch the classics. I'm like it's a new take, a new view of It's a show. It's a show. It can go a little bit more in depth there's

There's so much in the books that were not touched on. There's so much material to be used.

Exactly. Like they like it's not that they're completely redoing something. Because it's a show, there's so much more opportunity to dive deeper. And that excites me. And I'm like, it's we don't have to compare the two. They can be separate things. For sure. For sure.

Sure. Sure. I agree.

Cool. Glad you agree.

Yeah. I went and saw the Odyssey last. Yes.

Right.

and it was very good. It was very good. it wasn't like to me, like I don't know, because it's Christopher Nolan, everyone's like, What do you think? What do you think? And I'm just like, it was it was a very good telling of the Odyssey. It was it was lots of it was like gross. I was like, I almost like I wanted to like throw up at one point. he's just like the everything that's going on is so visceral, so like There's a part where there they go to Cersei's Island.

Cersei's a sorceress. She doesn't trust men. She turns his men to pigs. And the turning like like ew, I just I'm already feeling nauseous. It was nasty. Okay. So that part I literally closed my eyes and I did not watch. But like it went on there was definitely parts where I was like, we could have cut at least Two minutes here and two minutes here and two minutes here and this could have been two hours. But it was it was an epic tale.

It was well told. Definitely at a point I was like, What is the point of this? Like, why do I have to watch all of this?

Thank you.

And then it did reveal as to how it all kind of came together. And I thought it was you know, the dude can tell a story. It was really good. I enjoyed it. I don't think I need to see it again for a while.

Okay.

It wasn't like a mind bending interstellar thing, which obviously it's it's just the Odyssey. But it was a good story with a good moral lesson, whatever.

You know. Okay. Yeah. I still wanna see it. Yeah.

It's worth seeing.

Thanks for the one. I've heard that there were scenes that were a little bit like gross to watch, but thank you for clarifying what? Because now we know to look out for that.

Yeah. And there are are parts everyone is saying this, but it there are parts where it gets very loud and it it really does affect you. Like

You feel it.

Yeah. You feel it and you kinda want it to stop before it stops. Yeah.

Okay. Gotcha.

But like also I'm like, cool, like that's cool. You know, you're trying to experience.

Experience.

Yeah. Mm-hmm. And you know, you can see all the artistry and all of like the It's it's very well done.

Okay. I'm excited to see it. I don't know when that will happen.

But I honestly there's so much discourse around things like Harry Potter, Christopher Nolan, like these things that are ginormous enterprises at this point. and it it kind of annoys me. Like I don't wanna watch any marketing. Just like cool, there's a story, let's go see it.

Yeah. I don't want to be sold.

I don't want to be sold. Don't tell me what this is before I see it. And there was a lot of talk about like, well, maybe I just won't talk about it if you still want to see it. But there was just a lot of talk about Christopher Nolan, how he portrays women and like how he's not good at it. And like all of the women he portrays are like very sad and just like have nothing going for him.

And like

Interesting.

see it. I kind of see it. Yeah.

I wonder if like that's his experience in life maybe. Like what was maybe? Like what's his personal life? Why does he like is that his experience or is that how he sees women?

His wife is like his wife is like a as big a part of making his movies as he is, actually. She's I know, which I didn't even know, which I'm just.

She is though. Like of course she is.

Of course she is. Emma Thomas.

Hmm. There's a lot of Thompson.

Producer and she Right? Wow. Wow, wow, wow. So yeah. And she Yeah. So apparently she is vital to these stories. So that does make me feel better about the whole portraying women thing. But I see the point. However Sometimes

My thing is that's not necessarily if that's not necessarily problematic.

Correct.

It can become that, I guess, 'cause he's so popular and so huge and like so well respected. But like that in and of itself, portraying women in that way, like that is a story that he's telling. And but yeah, it's interesting.

It is interesting. But I wouldn't say the I would say a central theme of the movie is women like so angry that they don't have power. And so there you go. Yeah. It it absolutely is that. And it's anyway, when you see it, it's an interesting it made me think because a huge part of like the theme is like the downfall of man from the Bronze Age into the Dark Age. Mm-hmm. And how like, you know, they they're going from this time of like this these good times into these bad times.

But the good times still weren't good for the women. So it's like these c these things kind of didn't align. But yeah. Anyway, it was it's a good story. And I really liked the second half. The second half I was like, okay, here we go. Okay. Now we're getting into it. But the first half it's definitely a bit of like a Oof. So I would kill myself. So anyway.

Yeah. Okay. Noted. Yep. I did see something interesting. This was a little while ago before I even knew that the Odyssey was being made into a movie. But how over However many centuries since the Odyssey was written, it's been interpreted into modern language mostly by men with like with a filter of how like women are in the current society, which is usually like in in a patriotic society, it's less than men. So they're they're interpreting it w through that lens.

Where recently, maybe like early two thousands, a woman who studied ooh, I don't want to miss but a woman interpreted it and she had very like vast knowledge of the ancient Greek. She was an expert. Yeah, exactly. And some of the words that is it Homer? Yeah. Okay. Some of the words he uses, she translates like exactly and she doesn't like water it down. So like for instance, like Odyssey

Wilson.

portrayed, yes, as this hero the entire time. And like it kinda at most versions of the Odyssey ends with Odysseus being the hero, whereas in some of the in in her translation, it's a little bit more ambiguous. Like some of the things he did weren't seen as heroic from even the people on his ship. And then Divines

Yeah, and that's definitely a part of the

versus Slays being a translation. Yeah. And then I've heard from the movie it's like a lot of themes similar to this. So like okay, that makes me interested in seeing it too.

I would say the movie does I say the movie does not portray him as a hero, which I which is cool.

Right, yeah, it's like interesting, right?

There was a couple different points where they really drive home the failures of Odysseus. And I it it really made the story better for sure.

Yeah. And I I do remember reading parts at least of Odysseus in high school and like yeah, I remember like dissecting like some of his decisions. And so like that has been a theme of the Odyssey for forever. It's not like I'm like saying, he was always a hero.

No, no.

It's just like, you know, different translations, different lenses.

It's fascinating.

Yeah. There's like you could dive into it for sure.

How does one decide to like dedicate their life to these works of art?

Truly, you know. Truly, truly.

Didn't know that was an option.

I can't be. You are you are but you are about the lead here of thirty two. Just about to be. I really had to question myself there.

Just about Dude, I the other day I said I'm thirty two to someone and I was like, You know what? I'm not It was like months ago too. I was like, actually, I'm not I am thirty one. I don't know why I Yeah. I just

It's so tough because you think and it it's like that's what I'm turning. So then in your head you think of your age. You also think of the age you're turning. So then you're like, wait.

Correct. Especially when you're this close to like the next one. You're like,

Exactly.

Let me just tell you what I will be 'cause I might not see you again until

Right, exactly. Don't wanna give you false information. Right. Right.

Right.

So one of the challenges that we did on Thursday for our slightly violent theme was a spelling bee.

Yes.

And it was so funny and fun.

Love, I love.

So I'm gonna look up some words for you and I'm gonna try to give you some words that we used on Thursday too.

Literally I was wanting to do a spelling bee. Okay.

It's

Do you is this just gonna be for me?

you can throw some throw me some words if you like. Okay.

I think I wrote one down.

Okay. I started at grade four for everyone. Gosh. I went I first went to like grade eight and I was like, this is too hard.

That's so funny.

So I'll I'll I'll go like four or five we'll just go up a grade. I'll try to pick a good one from each. Let's see, let's see. Okay. Invisible.

my god. Language of origin. Okay.

No idea.

Invisible. I it's like it's like in my head I'm like, do you know how to pronounce letters? Okay. I N V I S I In Wait, where did I end?

Yeah.

I N V I S I B L E The amount of self doubt. It's crazy.

Bravo. my god. It is funny. I had w our so funny. Our one friend stood up

Use it in a sentence.

What this category is silent letters, but I didn't say that out loud. I just said, Okay, your word is gnome, like a garden gnome. Go ahead, I'll spell it.

my god. G N O E

Yeah, perfect. He was like, there's a silent letter, isn't And I like trying to like nod in my eyes. He goes, G

Okay. Where's the silence?

There's actually two silent letters. G and K.

Gnome.

it was fun.

Silent K I know. That's awesome. I love that. You know, it's good to be silly.

It's good to be silly. All right, let's see. We're gonna pull from actually I'm not gonna tell the category. Yeah, sure. Ready for grade five? Okay.

That's fucking

Souvenir.

my god, grade five Okay. Wait, I can't even picture the word.

So hard seeing it and not it I mean not seeing it.

The nearest.

Over here.

S O U R V E N I R Wait, what did I even just say? You say.

Sour veneer.

Why did I do that? Yeah, I don't know why. S O U V E N I R? Yeah. Did I put it R And that's called panic.

Yes, correct. What? I don't know. Yeah, my brain is is short circuiting.

Survener.

These are this is the French loan words.

What?

The category is French loan words. So words we've loaned from Friends.

okay, okay.

okay, I'm gonna give you another one from grade five. Yes, like cliché. critique. Critique.

Okay. Crick C R I T I Q U E.

Beautiful. Should I give you one more grade five?

If you feel so compelled to

Okay.

Collection C O L L E C T I O N Collection.

That was our T I O N slash T U R E endings category.

Amazing.

All right. There's some good ones, but we'll move on.

Okay.

Grade six. Ready?

Ready? Okay.

Okay. Embarrass.

fuck.

Mm.

Tell me how many R's and how many S's right now. Embarrass Okay, embarrass one more time. All right, E B A R R E S

You got the correct number of R's and S, but it's A S S, not E S. Really?

Wait, embarrass and so two A's after

No no. Wait. One A. So it's two A's in the in total.

A B A R R A S S Correct. my God.

The the clue balance you make an ass out of yourself.

When you assume and how to spell embarrassed.

But that is tricky. That was our double consonants and tricky spellings.

well they got the category name spot on.

Honestly, I was happy I didn't get one of these words because

No, that's a lot. This is fun though. This is fun.

It's a fun challenge. okay, ready for your next one. We're still on grade six.

Yes.

We're gonna do conscience.

Sure. my god. There's so many words that look like conscience. Okay. I'm like

Believe in yourself.

Okay. Conscience. I literally can't picture this word. Okay. what I'm picturing is conscious. Conscience. Yeah. Alright, so I'm gonna fuck this one up. C O N.

Isn't it?

Conscience.

yeah, it's conscience, not whatever you what d what did you say that you're

Conscient conscious.

Yeah, it's not conscience. I can't even s say cons

I know. I can't picture it.

Thanks.

C O N. Mm-hmm. I wanna say S C

Uh-huh.

Is there an E in somewhere?

Mm-hmm.

Okay. C O N S C I E N C E

Correct.

No way. Let's fucking go.

That feels good, huh?

I still don't know what I said, but yes.

Yeah, with science conscience.

Uh-huh. Now I can picture it.

I know, I know. I'm like, you need like that's why I understand in spelling bees when they ask for the origin of the word. I'm like, that makes so much sense.

Mm-hmm. That definitely wouldn't have helped me much.

Well, 'cause they all they have an understanding of etymology. Corp, correct.

Correct.

B and a spelling bee. Right. Okay, I'm gonna give you one more from grade six. Eloquence.

Beautiful. Eloquence. See, I I like the QU's. E-L-O-Q-U-E-N-C.

Me cell. Perfect. That was very eloquent. Thank you. Okay. Moving on to grade seven. Ooh,

boy.

okay, here's a good one. Phenomenon. fuck you.

Yeah. Phenomenon.

Phenomenon. Feminine omenon.

Interesting. Okay. Phenom penam.

Nom and

P H E Hen O Phenom O Nom? O N O

Amen on.

Okay. P wait. P H E N O E Phenom N O

Yeah, phenomenon. You said N at the end, right?

Totally dead. Definitely

I don't

put an on the end, but we're gonna we're gonna put that N right in there. Cause duh

For sure.

for sure. okay.

Alright.

Feeling

Teas are getting harder. Yep. they have Mendacious on here. That's funny. Mendace

Can we define mendace?

I guess I'll do it now.

This is not a full surface spelling bee?

Definitely not. Vendacious meaning.

Yeah. I would look it up myself, but I didn't want to like wait, actually I wanna try and spell mendacious.

It's describing a person who makes a habit of lying, a report, claim, or speech filled with false information.

This makes sense because I think mentir is to lie in Spanish. And obviously I could be wrong about that, but that's my guess. okay Mendacious M-E-N-D-A-C-I-O-U-S.

M-E-N-D-A-C-I-O-U-S, correct.

Yeah.

Nice job. Thank you. I'm gonna give you a tricky one. Maneuver.

We'll just maneuver myself right out of here. Maneuver Maneuver A N O U V E R

That would be man over.

It would be. But could it be also?

The answer is No.

Okay. Man oo.

Ver A N you

Yeah OU

No.

Maneuver.

Is French and Latin.

A N E U V E R

Okay. Okay. One more from here. This one got someone towards the end. Yeah,

Well, I've been got a few times already.

yeah. You've been got silhouette.

It's like this really reveals how little we write with our hands.

I know, it really does.

It really does. I did write a letter this weekend. That's something I did to just like for funsies. I have it all stamped and ready to post actually. It's very cute. That's very cute. and I did like have to like sit with some spelling a few times. Yeah. And I know that some words are

Like writing. Yeah.

Silhouettes silhouettes S I L H O U T T E

H-O-U-E-T-T-E. Fuck. You were so close. You got you got the tricky part.

I could see it in my head and I I missed that E. I knew there was E somewhere.

Yeah. No, but you got the you got the H O U I L H.

Yeah.

Yeah. It sounds like Sillo.

The thing the good the good news is I do read a lot. Only

Exactly.

way I've maintained any kind of

I can definitely picture the words.

Exactly. That's what I'm banking on.

Yeah. All right. Grade eight. I'll give you this is I'll give you my word that I won with.

Okay. Wait, this did you win the spelling beat?

I could But I'm like honestly part of it was luck because some of the questions at the end they were like two where I'm like, I would have gotten those wrong if I got them. So

And but that's part of winning. I know. I know.

You're so right, it is maybe the one I would have gotten wrong first than the one I got right. Okay. The one I got wrong is questionnaire. Okay. I I I would have gotten it wrong, but maybe

Double N feel like I Questionnaire Q U E S T I O N N A I R R E.

Just one R at the end.

Why do they do that? Yeah. Tricky.

About the double N. Yeah.

Not really even tricky. It's just like, do you know this word or not? No. and I didn't, guys.

I don't think I would have said A I R E. I would think I would have just gone A R. E. But then I would but like I don't know because I picture it. Because I you can picture it. Yeah. So I don't know. I think I would have got it wrong, but

Anyway, if I couldn't picture it, no.

Alright, this is the word I won with. Ready?

Ready.

Chrysanthemum.

Liz Okay, Liz I good for you. Okay. Picturing Chrysanthemum. You can spell it. Anth. A mom is gonna get me. Okay, okay, okay. C wait, whoa, whoa, whoa. C H

R

Y.

Yes.

A N T

H. Yeah, but I'm like, I guess I'll give you confirmation. Yeah, you're right so far.

I mean yeah, okay. Chrissanth. A U

E U You

I know it was an E.

knew it was an E, you overthought it.

I did, I did. All right. Well I got a lot of words wrong. But a lot of letters right.

Good job. Yeah, you got a lot of letters, right?

Wow. Chrysanthemum. So did people have to get it wrong for you to win?

Mm-hmm. Yeah, well if you got it wrong, you were we just kept going in a circle. Every time you got it wrong, you were out. Yeah, yeah. And like everyone did grade four and then everyone did grade five. So like you got out when you got out, but you we just kept going.

Got it, got it, got it. Mm-hmm. Very cool.

Very

I like that.

Yeah. It was fun. It's

What is super

like a nice switch up of

It's just you don't we used to have those skills.

I know, I know. So it was like a fun challenge. And it was so easy to like do and implement. And like I feel like there's so many games and things that like, you know, are fun, whatever, like there's nothing really like just like a trying to spell something. And

No, I totally agree.

like the pressure of doing it in front of everyone too, you're like, my God.

Like seriously.

Made everyone stand up.

At least you know you all like have similar nerves. We're like, quote, we all don't spell very often. Like we're all on pretty even ground.

Yeah, and it definitely was like some people who like got out maybe grade six was spelling grade eight word, like knew how to spell some of the N word, you know, like Right, of course, of course. Exactly.

Some luck in there. Yeah. you know what this makes me want to do, which do I really want to do this? I don't know. But and I okay. I I almost want to, again with like the reading, I've been reading more and like just like there's been more creative process talk in whatever I'm consuming. I kind of want to like memorize a poem and perform it. It's

You should.

like I remember hating doing that as a kid, but There's something in that where it's like it's not your own work, it's not acting, you're not doing a monologue. You're just like, you know, someone's written word or whatever. But I would never want to do that casually with my friends. That's cringe. I would wanna do that with like, I don't know, some random poetry club that's Yeah,

Kind of place where they do it. Yeah.

yeah, yeah. And tell no one and go and do that.

I think you should. That's a that's cute.

Yeah. Or even just like preparing something like that. Like that's such a different part of your brain. That's the part that appeals to me. Exactly. It's like that's such a different part of your brain and it's like to do alone. Yeah.

Like to be curious to like go up, be nervous, but do it anyway is yeah. Good.

I did have the idea when I was trying to think of topics for us was like each of us could like on the spot like right now recording have to like write a haiku.

You would crush me in that. What is it? Five, seven, five?

I don't know this. I don't think it's very subjective art. Should we do it? Yeah, let's do it. Okay, cool. Let me pull out I have literally look at me, pulling out my little piece of paper that literally has my initials.

so cute. That's nice. I didn't think I could stationary. Not me counting out a word and I was counting the letters, not the syllables. No, like that's not how this works.

Five syllables. That's right. No, but thank you for the reminder. Five syllables.

Five syllables, seven syllables, five syllables. Usually

Alright.

they're about like nature.

True. True. Are we are we trying to do nature? Okay now.

Doesn't need to be. That's not like a rule, it's just a general thing,

Yeah.

right? Okay, let's see.

All right. Take your time. I'm missing I'm missing one syllable. The worst

First.

No matter how many times I count, it's still four. Hold on. wait, wait, wait, wait. no. I only did five for the middle, sorry.

no.

Aha Aha.

Huzzah.

Sometimes you just need a minute.

For sure. All right.

Haiku.

Did it. Okay. Do you want to go first? Sure.

My theme is I mean, what's happening in this moment. That's my theme.

Okay.

Haiku, by me. Evelyn. Okay.

Mm-hmm.

Why is this so funny? Okay, okay, okay, okay, okay. All right. Here we go. I'm gonna read a poem that I just wrote.

thought that was it. I was like, Here we go. That's only three.

Trust me, I did okay, okay, okay here we go. Haiku. Today should have been full of windy clouds and gloom. Instead here we are.

Mike, am I depressed or happy?

You know what's crazy is I have instead here you are, but I said we.

That's kinda cute. That's kinda cute. I like B better.

I like Wii Better too. Glad I self edited in the moment. Today should I don't know how to like say that actually. Today should have been full of clouds and gloom. Instead, here we are. Like, is that how we're supposed to say it? Yes, I think. Rush through Not that's not right.

I think that you can say it as one sentence or you can like add the pauses. Cause like when you say it all together, it flows like one sentence almost. Mine doesn't, so I wouldn't say it like that. Depends

Well that okay.

on how. Okay, here's mine. A haiku by me, Liz. Cousins catching up. Podcasting is really fun. Listen and enjoy.

There you go.

Good. Quite rudimentary.

stunning.

I didn't pretend to try that hard.

Yeah. Did

That was fun.

I even say it right? Today should have been full of windy clouds and gloom. 'Cause that's how I get to my seven. I've threw in windy. Today

Maybe.

should have been full of windy clouds and gloom. Instead, here we are. Okay. Lovely. Lovely, lovely. Well

Lovely. Lovely. I hope not challenging yourself on the spelling B words.

Yeah. That would be fun. If I was driving in the car I would be spelling and that would be fun. I

Absolutely.

would. Well, game show action.

Exactly. Love that. Love that. all right.

Well, a happy way to start a Monday. This time we're recorded in the morning. and thank God for that. Honestly.

The rest of the day is

It's ours. Ours. Well now I can read the night in the moth tonight and st and not worry about being late to record with you.

nice. Perfect.

That's exciting.

Perfect. Yeah, it's a long it's gonna take you a couple like nights of good reading time.

Well yeah, and I I I do fly home on Wednesday, so I can read it on the plane. I did read Into the Blue in like probably like three days, but it was like i eight hundred something Kindle pages, which I guess you cut that in half.

Okay.

Right? Because it's just one page at a time? Yeah. Instead of two? I don't I don't No that's not how that works.

it would still be a page, it's a page.

I don't know. A page a page is a page. Nothing I say makes any sense.

Like it wouldn't be as like it yeah, it'd be I guess it was a four hundred No, I don't know what I'm saying.

Anyway.

Well, let's not let's not you might

Yep. Hurt. Don't hurt.

week everybody. Have a lovely week. We'll figure out a time to record. Let's stay on after this.

my god, yeah. He's in person. Connor, yeah, we'll stay on after this. Yeah, yeah. Connor has thoughts on microphones for travel. okay, well I'll see you soon, Liz.

I'll see you sooner. Yay, so soon. Okay, love you. Love you. Bye.

Yeah.

Hi.