Stories Shenanigans S5E6

No. 1 Child and I discuss how we're trying to maintain some distance from all the news inundating us this year. This means movies, music and books.

And I have a bit of a passionate outburst about how Mary, Queen of Scots is portrayed in films and shows. A little bit.

Shows:

California Law

Secrets of Spanish Florida

Kanopy - streaming service available through public libraries

Books:

The Buffalo Hunter Hunter, Author: Stephen Graham Jones

The Djinn Waits One Hundred Years: A Novel, Author: Shubnum Khan

How I Accidentally Became a Global Stock Photo, Author: Shubnum Khan

Transcript

1:22

Hey, y'all. It's Susan, your swearing therapist, and I am back with number one child. Say hello, Seneca. Hello. And it's been a little bit since I've been on and you've been on and anything's been dropped new mainly because again, still busy with stuff, still trying to figure out my schedule so that I can get back to getting persons lined up to do interviews and create new podcast episodes. So we're gonna be kicking that off here in a couple weeks. One of my favorite people, a brother from another, Steve Bisson, is going to be on the show with us in a couple weeks. And then I've got, Bhavna Raisatha. She was on last year, and she's written a book, and it's what she does for a living as a therapist, so we're gonna be talking about her newest project and getting published and all that. So that's kind of exciting. That's cool. Got a couple other things in the pipeline. We'll see if they produce anyone. But other than that, what have you been up to, kid? Just, hanging out with the fire haze out in Colorado. Yeah, that's not a sexy time. I'm worried because, you know, you still have people who are like, "Eh, it has nothing to do with, you know, us messing with nature and fucking up the climate or anything. No, it's just, this happens." I'm like, "Mm, you got most of Europe, it seems like, on fire." Germany is on water rationing. You've got the Western United States, of course you guys are always prone to fire, but especially so recently. Let's see, what? Oregon, Utah, Colorado- Was Washington State also on fire at one point? I can't remember At one point, I think so. There's been a few in Wyoming. Not sure about Montana, but I do know that there were a few in Wyoming. We had quite a few down by Colorado Springs. So it's a good bit- It's been all over the place. And then Canada. My God, the entire country of Canada seems to be on fire. It's just, you know, I feel terrible for the persons that are caught in this and having to evacuate, and the professionals that are going in, and the people that are going in to fight these blazes and try to contain them and reduce the harm. There's been lives lost with that, so my heart goes out to those folks, and i'm really hopeful these fires will be contained and reduced and put out in the very near future for everybody's safety, and this is being recorded on July 26th you know, hopefully within a couple of weeks things will be significantly improved. hope for the best for everybody. Everybody keep safe out there. Yep In the meantime, with the world being a figurative and literal fire, people are, are escaping into other things. I know that I have really gotten back into doing art and writing and journaling and doing illustrated journaling. I've been listening to a lot of music and, and podcasts about history, 'cause I love that stuff because it's, it's all cyclical because people been peopling since we were peoples. And I like seeing where we come from, and unfortunately sometimes where we keep repeating history. But what about you? What have you been doing to kind of escape from being overwhelmed by it all? Because that's... it's not good for our mental health to be deluged with bad 24/7, even though we know it's all out there. What have you been doing? I've also been listening to a lot of music. I haven't been podcasting, but I have been watching, a lot of, documentaries, Mm-hmm especially with our nation's 250th birthday. Mm-hmm there have been a lot of interesting documentaries on Thomas Jefferson and Ben Franklin, I appreciate the documentaries that are coming out about the United States being built on slave labor- indentured servants, the economies that were built from that and how we're still having the repercussions from it. It talked about indigenous nations significant losses on their end, and what was going on when things first kicked off- Mm-hmm with people coming to the Northern Hemisphere over here, right? Right. There was one, I can't remember. Hmm, hmm, hmm. There is one I, I don't know if it's a show or a documentary, but it's called California Law, it goes into the whole indigenous, Part of being put into the missionary schools, being traded for slave labor and things like that. I'm pretty sure it's a TV show that's coming out that's called California Law. Okay. That'll be interesting. The show that I was thinking about, it's a documentary on public television. Support your local public television, people. It's important. Yeah. This one is a documentary and it's... I love this program. It's called Secrets of the Dead, and they explore all kinds of really cool shit. Mm-hmm. This one is called Secrets of Spanish Florida, I had no idea, and I'm pretty well-versed in history, world history, quite a bit of North American history. I had no idea about the colonization of Florida before the English ever got here. I'm not gonna spoil it for anybody who wants to go watch it. Highly recommend it. It's about two hours long. It is so well done. They talk about all the evidence that they have found in archives, in private libraries. Mm-hmm. They talk about the physical evidence through archeology that they have found. You know, it's just, it's fascinating. I highly recommend it to people. So the 250th anniversary has really opened up a lot of really good shows and information that I grew up in the '70s and '80s that we didn't have in our classic textbooks. Even going to college and learning a lot on my own, I still didn't know this stuff. So I'm always happy to have more information about where we were, how we are now, and where we're looking at going in the future. What else were you talking about for shows you've been watching? I've been into a lot of Korean dramas. I've kind of dipped my, I, not really dip- Are we talking, like, anime or are you just talking about K-dramas? I'm talking the whole shebang. Like, I dove into the deep end of Korean TV. We're watching One Piece. We're watching Korean dramas, Korean dating shows, Korean s- chef shows. Subtitles are on all the time in my household right now. Yeah. I w- I could see that. I've not really gotten into any Korean shows. I think there's been a few historical Korean dramas that I've watched. Mm-hmm. They were very short runs on Netflix or YouTube had them, because I tend to be much more of a YouTube watcher because I just, I don't like regular television with commercials, and I don't subscribe to any other streaming services right now. There've been a few Korean movies I've watched through Kanopy and that's available through public libraries, folks. If you have not heard about this, this is a fantastic service that is available through your public library if they're a part of it. It's called Kanopy, K-A-N-O-P-Y, all you need is your library card, you plug that in, and if your library is one of the subscribing libraries, you get access to hundreds and hundreds of videos, streaming videos. I've watched everything from Korea and Russia and German, of course with subtitles, to older American movies I've heard about but have never watched before. I've re-watched a lot of really classic ones, like Buster Keaton, he's my favorite. Okay. Charlie Chaplin, all kinds of stuff. So highly recommend Kanopy for folks if you haven't checked it out. They've also got TV series. I did go back and re-watch Poirot that PBS, I'm sorry, BBC produced. Love that. And with David Suchet. A- and honestly, he is the epitome of Hercule Poirot. I, I love him as that character. David Ustinov, or sorry, Peter Ustinov played the main character back in the late '70s, early '80s, Did a really good job. Didn't hate it. Kenneth Branagh, I don't know what creature he's glued to his face for a mustache, but I do not like the presence of it. I don't. I don't think the films are well done. I just, I've got too much history, I think, to be able to view it from an unbiased view. So that does not make me happy. I'm No, I won't. I watched the first two, and I am not gonna watch the third one. Nope. Nope. Watching, watching any historical movies or television shows have always been a pain in the ass with you, so- I'm doing that on your own. It's not been a pain in the ass. I'm just making sure y'all understand that that- Hmm isn't correct. That is not his- historically accurate. The one thing that bothers the shit out of me every single time, though, every single time, get a grip, Susan. Queen Mary of Scotland, they always put her in a fucking Scottish brogue. She was brought up in the fucking French court, people. Oh my God. If you can't get I don't care if the costumes are wrong. I don't care if you get some historical facts all kind of mushed together to make a better story. Fine. But for the love of God, stop giving her a Scottish brogue. I know. This is what you grew up with. Yeah, I seem to have this reoccurring flashback of being in a movie theater- Yeah with you and the third creature you married, and I'm literally six rows back, and in the middle of the movie, where there's people present, mind you, you shout, N- wait, no! That didn't happen like that!" I don't remember what movie that was, but I'm sure I did say that It was Shanghai Noon, Jackie Chan. Oh my God, yes. I remember what you're talking about. Yeah I couldn't help myself, okay? It was I, I can't remember which part of that- When can you ever help yourself? Well, there's What? When can you ever help yourself? There are plenty of times I bite my tongue and not say anything, but yeah. Although Jackie Chan, I did like his I, I like his movies. They're fun. They're fun. I love- But that one, that, that one was like, mm-mm, no. There was a lot of glaring. And then I know that it was about storytelling, and I gotta get a grip, you know, because we retell these stories all the time. We can make fictional films. Which leads me to talk about The Odyssey, right? Lord, here we go. No, no, no. You know, it's just- And I've learned as I've gotten older, you need to get a grip because storytelling is storytelling, unless they're trying to present it as historical fact and they're just fucking lying. And Chris Nolan, I have an issue 'cause it seems like with all of his movies, he chooses the ones where the women are dead or they disappear, or- I think he needs therapy. I do. He needs a lot of things. Anyway. I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna go watch this one by Chris Nolan, you know? Inception I think was the last one I watched by him, and it was a, it was a really well-done movie, but it was just like, mm. He's got refrigerator girl syndrome, I think, to be honest with you. You know- I- the whole kill off the female to give motivation to the male main character, whatever. But the Odyssey is interesting 'cause people are just so bent out of shape about the story pieces that he took out of it to make his story, and it's like he didn't present it as a historically accurate film. he said- Oh it was based on, you know, what he enjoyed about The Odyssey, which, you know, more power to him. He's not, he's not trying to recreate anything. Also, even historians still to this day will argue about what authentically happened, you know, if it happened at all, and what parts are we talking about that happened that made it into lore and mythology and, you know, it's all storytelling. Mm-hmm. trying to think about what was the one movie with I'm losing my mind. What is her name? She's Australian. Margot. She was, she played Harlequin Margot Robbie Margot who? Robbie Robbie, that's it. With Margot Robbie, she was in, what was it, Wuthering Heights? Yes that movie that everybody freaked out about and said- Yeah it was so horrible. And the, the, the person who produced and directed the play, or I'm sorry, the movie, said this was not about taking it word for word from the, from the book. She was telling her version of it. Right Doesn't mean you had to go watch it, doesn't mean y- if you did watch it you had to like it. But I think walking into it you should just automatically assume you're not gonna get the book told to you yet again. Right But then again, look at all the years that you have Heathcliff shown as a white dude, when the book very clearly states he is not. Mm-hmm. So I don't know. I don't know. There's, there's a lot there that I think is interesting about people retelling stories and things like that. The Other Boleyn Girl, or no wait, The Other Bennett Sister is the one I'm thinking of. I watched that series, and it was interesting it did follow along the lines of how the story is told- Right for plot. And I think it was a little more realistic about how awful the mother was, the Bennet mother was to her girls, and what was expected of them of course, and everything. So I think there's a little more realistic bent brought to it But I still, it's not my jam. I don't think it was terrible, but it's not my jam. I mean, I think a lot it's just because 90% of the population couldn't be fucked to read the book in any of these movies or shows, so it's basically just entertainment value for them. Yeah. Well, that's fine if that's what they want. Yeah. I just, I just get curious about some people. I mean, critiquing anything I think prompts open dialogue to talk about people's ideas, preconceived notions, prejudice and bias that they bring, different points of view, different lived experiences to see, what they see in the film or movie or play or whatever. I think that's well worth doing. Yeah. Because I think you learn more about people- Mm-hmm and understand that we share a lot of commonalities, and there's gonna be differences, but it doesn't necessarily mean it has to, you know, completely pull us apart. But then you get people that are so invested in these things, and they get so bent over about it, like, you know, twisted hairpin and just, "Err." Kinda like- Well- how I was when I was younger, and I'd get all cranked up about things, and it's like, you know, "Mom, it's a work of fiction." "I know, but, but urgh." No, I had my moments because they remade Little House on the Prairie. I heard that. I haven't seen it. I think it's really good only because it doesn't have the syrupy, like- Sentimentality okay sitcom BS. It was very unique. But that was what was, that was what was gonna sell in the '70s. You know, that's what, that was part of when I grew up watching these shows. I mean, they were all cookie cutters- Right because that's what sold airtime. And it wasn't terrible, but it was very much a product of its generation. Oh, yeah. And there were themes that were trying to be introduced. If the networks, they could get it past the networks then, but it didn't fly a lot of times. Again, it's about retelling the story from a different point of view, and Laura Ingalls Wilder had her lived experience. Mm-hmm. And it was her story to tell as she chose fit. Right. Period. She wasn't saying, "Here's a historical fact of how the West was developed and how people went and took land from the Native American population, and this is the political ramifica-" No, she was talking about her family- Mm-hmm and what her lived experience was and from her point of view. A lot of it was fictionalized, even from her point of view. Her daughter helped her a lot with it. If people don't know about this, they should really look into Laura Ingalls Wilder and Rose Wilder, that really difficult, conflicted, tight, and then contentious relationship between Laura Ingalls Wilder and her only child. It's fascinating, and Rose Wilder was also a writer and a journalist and an activist, and highly recommend it. Just do a Google search or whatever search engine you wanna use and, and just type it in there about Laura Ingalls Wilder and her daughter and do that rabbit hole dive, 'cause that's really interesting. But it's interesting to hear from you that you thought it was pretty good, and I had read that they were trying to adjust the point of view to have more fact inclusion versus the fictionalized version that I grew up with, the series of books. And I know I gave you that series of books when you were a little girl. Yeah, and I've, I probably read through them at least five times. It's probably one of my favorite books that I grew up with outside of Flowers in the Attic. Mm-hmm. But I would agree that they did, they did do more fact-based- more historical placement within the series Okay but I don't wanna give it away Okay. Well, we won't give spoilers away here. People, people can go watch it, but- There's, there's still a couple things that I kind of hold contention with I will say that I'm very happy that they've chosen, indigenous casting for Little House on the Prairie I will have to double-check that movie, movie. No, it's a series, isn't it, Little House? Yes. Yeah. I, I literally just binged it- Mm-hmm for a whole weekend, and I'm, I'm honestly happy with it. I kept seeing the trailers for it, cause we are in the age of remakes and, I was apprehensive to watch it, 'cause the, the first series, I can be down for, you know, feel-good sitcom. But, I was scared that they were gonna try to remake it, and it was just gonna fall flat on its face, and then I wouldn't get, like, that hour back in my life. I hear you on that do you watch musicals at all? the most modern musical that I've watched It was literally Moulin Rouge. That was the last modern musical that I watched I'll watch anything Baz Luhrmann throws on the screen. My favorite film out of all of the ones he's done, Romeo and Juliet See, I'm tied, I'm p- I'm tied between Romeo and Juliet and The Great Gatsby. I know it wasn't a musical, but we saw it so many times in the movie theater that- Uh-huh if it was still running in a movie theater, I would probably go see it once a week Oh, shit, yeah. I would absolutely go see that I loved that movie so much. But yes. It was interesting the way that he pulled the story together to tell it. Again, not completely by the book. I mean, he took a lot of liberties about shifting things to make a, a story he could throw up on the screen in his version. Again, people were bent out of shape about that, too. But Romeo and Juliet, again, people bent out of shape about it, but the way he did it was so exciting. People were talking about Shakespeare and what the story really meant, and because he didn't shy away from the whole fact that, huh, spoilers, you know, these are two teenagers that do this impulsive thing and then end up dead at the end of it. Mm-hmm. to the guilt and shame of the families that couldn't get their shit together. It was, it was well done. I loved it. I, actually I'll watch just about any remake of any Shakespeare play because I wanna see what their version of what they're doing for that story is gonna look like. Yeah, but I'm not a, I'm not really a musical person, because you know how I am with most movies that show up with singing. It's like, they're about to start, and it's like, "No." All the singing. "No singing." Just like Monty Python, "No, no singing. No singing." Even, even the, the Indian Bollywood movies with a lot of singing it's like, "Oh my God, again?" Growing up watching you roll your eyes like, "Oh, come on." Eight minutes later. But, but my- My one friend that wanted to go see Mamma Mia!, and I agreed under duress. And it was like they just get done singing, and I'm like, "Oh, thank God." And then, you know, they start singing again. And then about 20 minutes in the movie another song breaks out, and I look at him like, "Oh look, another surprise song out of nowhere. Who would have thought they'd be singing yet again?" And she just starts laughing. She goes, "It's fine." I said, "I'm gonna die. I'm gonna have an aneurysm right here." She's like, "Nobody died of an aneurysm listening to a musical." "I'll be the first one. I will be the first one." She can't take you anywhere. You can't have nice things. Oh, God. I will say- Are you doing any, any, any book reading? No. Usually I come home and I throw something on, do what I gotta do around the house, and it's pretty much bedtime 'cause I'm up pretty dang early in the morning. Mm. I've been going through quite a few books lately. the most recent one is The Bison Hunter Hunter. about a relative of someone who had been out West after white men had slaughtered the buffaloes and razed the indigenous nations out there and pushed them off their lands and that, due to a journal that was stuffed into an old building between walls. Mm-hmm. And this person just happens to be related to the writer of this journal. And I've just started it, and it's interesting so far. You have to let me know how it is. I will. I do wanna read that book that I recommended to you that the park person recommended Letters From Montana, where it's letters from the National Park Service rangers from Yellowstone. That's gonna be probably my next book that I'll read The book that I had read previous to The Bison Hunter Hunter was by a South African author. I, I'm, I know I'm gonna say her name incorrectly, and I apologize. Shabnam Khan. And she had originally wrote a memoir called How I Accidentally Became a Global Stock Photo and Other Strange and Wonderful Stories. the reason why I got interested in her was because of a book that she had written that I had read, which was, I thought, phenomenal. It was a ghost story. It was a supernatural story. It was a human story. It was a murder mystery. It was family secrets. And it did not go the way I thought it did. And, 'cause I've read a lot of those, and I thought, "Oh, I'll know what's going on by chapter three." It kept me kinda guessing on where it was actually going. I knew what was gonna happen in the end, but I was really curious to keep reading on how we were gonna get there. Mm-hmm. And that was really good. And, and the name of the book is called The Jinn Waits a Hundred Years, and I'll put a link to the book in the program description. Okay. But the memoir that I wanted to read is only available through the South African publisher- Hmm or in India. And I'm like, "Well, I gotta get my hands on a copy of this memoir." And it was written in 2021, so it's not a new book, and I don't know if they're going to reprint it and make it internationally available. I don't know. So I actually had to go on a book hunt and order it from an Indian company and have it shipped from India. So it just arrived, and I'm looking forward to reading that. There's another book that she wrote called Onion Tears, and I really wanna read that. But again, I can't even find a copy of that anywhere. I really wanna read that. And then The Lost Love of Akbar Manzil Manzil, is the most recent one that's supposed to come out by her. And she's a wonderful author, and I, I can't wait to read more about her and, and read more of her books. if I can find a book that pulls me out of my head and, and the work I do from day to day as a therapist and just get into this story and live in it, that's exactly what The Jinn Waits 100 Years was about. It was... Damn, it was good. It's, it's one of those that I'm gonna add to my personal library. I borrowed it from the library, but I'm gonna add it to my personal stock. More books for you to inherit when I drop dead finally. Can't wait. Hey, I've got a first edition Adam Ant memoir that he signed you know, you got that to look forward to. I know how much you love Adam Ant, more than I do. I love him. And he's gonna be in Denver in September, and I really wanna go. I really, really- You better go see him 'cause he's like 100 years old. What? I'm gonna be 60 next year, and he was in his 30s when I was watching him in the '80s as a teenager So he's gotta be 100 years old by now. Everybody's 100 years old if they're older than me, if they're not dead I don't, I don't think your math is mathing, Mom. Something, something is awry. I'm a writer and I'm a reader. I don't do math well. This is why I have a tax accountant to keep me out of jail, okay? I was born to read, not to lead. I wish you read more. I wish you had more time and energy to read more. I gave you that Kindle, didn't I? Yeah. Mom, we talk about this all the fucking time. I have the Kindle. It's in my possession. John has seen me with the Kindle. I have it. I read when I can. I'm sorry. It's okay. I understand. You have a busy life. Oh my God. You're gonna be 90. You're gonna be 90, and you're gonna be like, "Do you still have that Kindle I gave you?" No, Mom. It's, it's been out of date for 40 fucking years Hey, the older Kindles, they don't support them anymore. They, I mean, they're completely offline. You can't buy books or anything for the older Kindles, so it will eventually get to that, yes. I'm gonna have to bury that fucking thing with you. Well, that'll be interesting, 'cause you're gonna have me cremated. I wanna be cremated, so good luck with that. Just shove it in between our arms. It'll be fine. What you do is you get a book made, a, a book box that looks like a book, right? And you put my ashes in it, and you stick that damn Kindle on top of it. In fact, I want my Kindle and my Nook thrown on top of that as well And then you can toss me wherever Don't roll your eyes at me. I'm gonna, I'm gonna put you in a bear hug. That's what I'm gonna do, and not the fun kind. The rawr kind and not the oomph, oomph kind. You'll get the wrong bear hugs for eternity, Mom Like I'm worried about it. I'm, I'm an atheist. Nothing's gonna happen to me at the end. It, it, once I go out, the lights go out. Done Okay If I'm wrong, I'm wrong, but you know. We'll see what happens I'm gonna get to heaven and be like, "Oh, fuck. What is she doing here?" You thought you were in the good place. Guess what? You're not. I found your Kindle and it still works. You can beat me with that thing. Spiritually. Can't wait. A spiritual beating with a Kindle? I'm gonna have to think on that one All right. I think we've tortured each other enough with this kid, so I think we probably should wrap this up, no, you just don't want me calling you out on you know, you bitching at me about a fucking Kindle until you're, probably after you're dead. I'm gonna buy- Don't worry. I'm gonna, I'm gonna cut this part out, so don't you worry I'm, I'm gonna end up buying a, a Ouija board after you're gone, and then the first thing it's gonna say is, "Kindle." No, the first thing it's gonna say is, It's too hot. They won't install the air conditioner. Do you still have the Kindle I gave you?" It was supposed to be a dry heat. No, what it's gonna be is that I think I'm in the wrong place because everybody is really nice and everything, but, you know, Gran's here to let me know that I was absolutely wrong, and she keeps reminding me I was absolutely wrong, and that I have to admit that she was right I would pay to see that Grand, if you're listening Send me a sign that it will happen. I don't know what kind of sign you're expecting, but good luck with that. All right, kiddo, it's time to roll it down here. So we got a couple more episodes coming up in the next couple of weeks, and we'll see where I can get some action in terms of lining up some other folks I've got in the pipeline, so we'll go from there. But it's good to see you. Good to talk to you. Same. And I can't wait to hear the other guests you have lined up. Those'll be good episodes. Yeah, I think so. All right, darling, you take care, and I will see you on the flip side. All righty. All right. Bye, honey. Bye, Mom.