#09 - Attention, Banter and Titanic II

In Episode 8 of Allegedly Thriving, Martin tries to keep the ship pointed vaguely at “podcast structure” while Izzy admits she’s still in surviving mode.

Izzy opens up about the weird creative-business paradox: the more attention and praise she gets, the less confident she feels, then covers ways to quiet her brain  - Think repainting the kitchen pink, learning embroidery, and leaning fully into “grandma chic.” 

Then the conversation does what this podcast does best: veers hard into culture and chaos. Repetitive tasks (crochet vs soul-crushing science), British bureaucracy, national trolling and the big question: if a show or film is rubbish, do you leave or do you sit there out of spite because you paid for it?

Expect strong opinions on Avatar, unexpected drive-in trauma from A Star Is Born, a love letter to terrible films (including Titanic 2), and a comfort-watch roll call from Brooklyn Nine-Nine to Twilight 

Thanks for listening to Allegedly Thriving and for coming along for the inevitable detours.

If you want to learn more about the two potentially unhinged presenters:

Martin - Photographer and Owner of Terry Harrison Art: Martin Newham Photography  and TerryHarrisonArt

Issy - Director, Owner and all round Digital Genius:  Howell Studios and Howell Media

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:19

I love being a lovely podcaster.

SPEAKER_01 0:21

I make all the mistakes and I don't need to an expert.

SPEAKER_00 0:27

I know, so between us, we just make an average.

SPEAKER_01 0:31

We make one good person.

SPEAKER_00 0:32

Mush us together. We get two average podcasters.

SPEAKER_01 0:37

I'll take that. I'll take that. So hello.

SPEAKER_00 0:39

Hello.

SPEAKER_01 0:40

Hi Izzy.

SPEAKER_00 0:41

Hi, Martin. Yay, and that's our introduction's done.

SPEAKER_01 0:44

Is it?

SPEAKER_00 0:44

Well, I believe so. Well, I'm Martin.

SPEAKER_01 0:46

Are you?

SPEAKER_00 0:47

Yes. And you are.

SPEAKER_01 0:48

I don't know anymore. Oh no. I'm Izzy. I thought you were doing the intro this week. Did I do it last week? Did we do one last week?

SPEAKER_00 0:57

Ah, I can't remember. But anyhow. Welcome to the allegedly thriving podcast. The podcast where we as two business owners in the Northeast talk about whether we are thriving or we're just merely surviving the woes and tribulations of running small businesses.

SPEAKER_01 1:13

You mean tribulations?

SPEAKER_00 1:15

Tribulations? Trials and tribulations. I don't know. See, now, now you you're taking me away from a thriving to a just surviving here.

SPEAKER_01 1:23

I'm sorry. Go back to where you were.

SPEAKER_00 1:27

So the we start, as we eventually do in every podcast, uh, with a question. So, Izzy, are you thriving or surviving this week?

SPEAKER_01 1:35

Hmm. Now I am I feel like every week I'm surviving. No, I was thriving recently.

SPEAKER_00 1:42

No, you've been surviving for the last three or four.

SPEAKER_01 1:44

Have I?

SPEAKER_00 1:44

We joked about it last week.

SPEAKER_01 1:46

Oh god, I'm still surviving. Really? I'm still surviving. I'm trying to help as much as I can. I know, but I I am oh god, I am so like see, I don't see, I don't think I'm burnt out. I think my head is just full.

SPEAKER_00 2:03

So we need to be careful not to just turn this into a pity party.

SPEAKER_01 2:06

I know, get the tiny Yeah, no, and my head's just full. I think it's because I've had some really big wins, I've had some annoyances, and I've had I don't know, I just you know it is, it's just like a self-doubt thing, and I think the more the more people like what I'm doing, the less I the less confident I feel, which is such a weird thing.

SPEAKER_00 2:35

Because people are liking what you're doing, yeah, and I'm not sure. And you're you're getting everywhere. But not that way, but like a virus.

SPEAKER_01 2:42

No, but my my immediate like thing is just like when people say things about what I'm doing or give me attention, basically, I just I I I literally it's like it makes me less confident.

SPEAKER_02 2:57

Really?

SPEAKER_01 2:58

It's weird. Yeah, you think when people give you like you know, tell you about how great you're doing and oh, isn't this great? Aren't you flying everywhere, you're everywhere, all this stuff? And I'm like, I just that makes me even more nervous.

SPEAKER_00 3:09

So why does it make you nervous? What is it about the compliment that makes you nervous?

SPEAKER_01 3:14

Because I'm like, I think I think when you're a business owner and you're in the creative industry, as you know, there is no safety net at all. And I think when you are very publicly doing okay, I always have that instant feeling where I'm like, well, not for long in the back of my mind, and I'm like, what's coming? What's coming now? Something's gonna happen.

SPEAKER_00 3:32

You see, I'm quite lucky because I have that safety net.

SPEAKER_01 3:35

Yeah, you have like a dead man's safety net. Yes, but I I have this thing of like I don't know, it's this feeling of um if you I don't know, I think it's like I think it's an obvious fear of failure, and I'll save that for a therapist and not for this, but like it's this feeling of if I don't know, I I my we have this thing in my family called howlishness, which you may have y heard that term being used around the office now and then, which is basically absolute overcomplicating, overthinking, doing something really expensive for no reason, or something really stupidly bad going wrong. So it's things like like there's there's been lots of weird events in my life where you know things are going great, but oh no, then the car blows up, then this happens, then this happens. It's like a spate of bad luck, and there's like a line of oh, it's just pure howlishness. It's just my family's way of saying it's happened to all of us. But I just have the fear that if I do, if I succeed, then something's gonna come around the corner, and that fear of something coming around the corner, I'm like, oh god.

SPEAKER_00 4:46

So, my my question to you would be then in the past when these things have come around the corner, have you handled them? Yeah, you see, because you're sitting here as a successful businesswoman, you know, a fantastic mother. Thank you. So, you know, you've dealt with all of these things in the past, yeah. So do you not think possibly that it doesn't matter what's coming around the corner because you have all the skills and tools you need to deal with it.

SPEAKER_01 5:12

Yeah, and that's the thing, maybe it's just a feeling of I can't be asked to deal with what's coming around the corner because I have so much in my head already. But so that's why I I am I'm literally allegedly thriving because on paper or online you'll see and you'll go, Wow, she is thriving and the business is thriving, things are going in the direction I want them to go, but it just makes me feel like I don't know, like I'm scared of the ground being pulled out from under me. It's weird, it's really weird.

SPEAKER_00 5:44

Well, I think that's definitely something to work on. So I've got one question for you. Without without going down therapy routes and coaching routes and all of that stuff, what do you do when your head is so full of stuff? How do you get the stuff out of your head?

SPEAKER_01 6:00

Is this where I can talk about my crafting?

SPEAKER_00 6:03

If you want.

SPEAKER_01 6:04

Yes. So the only way I've been able to turn my brain off recently is by making stuff and like literally doing something that needs my brain to concentrate. So I have repainted my kitchen on Sunday. Pink, saw that pink, beautiful, looks amazing. And it's amazing how clean a room looks when you paint it. I'm just not gonna clean my kitchen anymore, I'm just gonna paint over it every week, but the until the walls are like a two inches thick. Um, but I I enjoyed doing that, and then I thought, oh, I've got this nice like embroidery kit that it says iHeartT and it has a teapot. And I thought that'll look cute on the wall of my new pink kitchen because I'm going for like a grandma chic sort of vibe.

SPEAKER_00 6:46

Well, if you have a framed embroidery, cross stitch?

SPEAKER_01 6:48

No, embroidery hoop.

SPEAKER_00 6:50

Oh, embroidery hoop, yeah. Isn't that cross stitch?

SPEAKER_01 6:52

No, it's like different stitches. There's like a chain stitch and a fan stitch and all these different stitches, but I've never done it before, and just randomly this week I found it in the cup and I thought that'll look nice on the wall. And I just learnt embroidery one night and I've just been sat doing it, but the concentration it takes means that I haven't I can't think about anything else because I'm like trying to get it right and I'm not very good at it, but I'm getting better at it. But for a first attempt, but like that's the only way I've been able to turn my brain off is by crafting, by literally making something or having to concentrate on something that stops me from thinking about other things. So that's how I will update you on my embroidery soon.

SPEAKER_00 7:31

Can you do me a favor for next week?

SPEAKER_01 7:33

What what do you want me to bring in?

SPEAKER_00 7:34

Well, you see, it's all in good all and good turning your brain off, but you're not getting anything out of it. It's still full. You're just turning well, you've just said it's full. It's it's you've got so much stuff in there, you don't know what to do with it. But instead of getting it out, you you're just turning it off. Yeah, which means when you turn it back on again, it's still all there. So try and actually get all of that stuff out of your head.

SPEAKER_01 7:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 7:56

Write it down, shove it in a journal. I know you hate it, it doesn't matter. Just it could be a scrap of paper, list everything that's in your head out, and just think of it as you emptying that bucket.

SPEAKER_01 8:07

Well, I heard something today, which when he was saying it, I instantly thought of you.

SPEAKER_00 8:13

I'm trepidatious at this point in time.

SPEAKER_01 8:16

Because I was there was there was a a friend of ours um of the business that came in earlier, and he is he's like me, he's a parent to a young kid, and like we were chatting and stuff, and like we were talking about this thing about like getting getting all the stuff out of your head, and what he does, which blew my mind, and it's something I might try, is he has a transcription app on his phone, and whenever he's driving anywhere, he doesn't listen to music, he doesn't listen to things, he talks, and he just talks while he's driving, and then the transcription app listens to every single thing he's saying, and then he puts it in an AI and says, Using that gobbledygook from the last half an hour, tell me what I need to do now. And I and he said, Driving is a time where you don't actually do anything other than obviously look at where you're going and drive. And he was saying he uses that time to just verbally just let and just things just come out, and then by the time the journey's over, he feels like he's said everything he needs to say, got everything out, and then he's got like a thing at the end of it. And I was like, that is amazing, because I'm in the car all the time.

SPEAKER_00 9:22

So do that tonight because technically you're off from today, yes, right, until next Tuesday. Yes, which is amazing. That's like five days off. So go into those five days with an empty brain and just blurt it all out when you drive home.

SPEAKER_01 9:37

That's why I'm doing a very, very, very long day today. Like I'm just getting everything done and out the door because then I know I can literally relax. If I don't get everything done and I'm carrying it all to next week, I'll just feel like oh but yeah. So that's so I will be I will be thriving next week, I guarantee it. That's the attitude I like to hear. It will be. It will be. And are you? What about you? Um please bring this tone up a little bit.

SPEAKER_00 10:01

Well, I've been thriving for weeks, haven't I?

SPEAKER_01 10:02

So yeah, please be surviving.

SPEAKER_00 10:04

Well, I'm thriving because of a positive mindset. I would say business-wise, I'm still speculating. So, you know, paid work is still light, but I am meeting lots of people, um, and I'm refining my kind of onboarding process and all of that, which is quite interesting. I had a very, very interesting tour around a um cancer research lab.

SPEAKER_01 10:26

That sounded that sounded amazing.

SPEAKER_00 10:28

It was really cool. Like freezes at minus 152 degrees, and like I was looking through microscopes, seeing how they figure out that these little vials of 30 million cells are viable and stuff like that.

SPEAKER_01 10:39

God, that is insane.

SPEAKER_00 10:40

2026, they still do it by just looking through a microscope and somebody with a clicker manually counting the number of cells in the field of view.

SPEAKER_01 10:48

Can you imagine training to be in that kind of level of science for years and years and years just to be the one who's counting dots of the clicker?

SPEAKER_00 10:56

I think you have to be good at doing things like that to be able to do that job. But because it's so much of it is repetition. Yeah. Because that that's why I that's why I just bombed out when I went to and did physics at university, because the scientific experiments were just so boring. I spent five hours in a lab rotating an oscilloscope dial by one tiny notch and waiting a couple of minutes and then seeing what the result was and then doing it again.

SPEAKER_01 11:23

Oh god. No, I couldn't.

SPEAKER_00 11:25

I mean, I was traumatized by it. I didn't do any other experiments, I did that one, and it stayed with me for for 25 years.

SPEAKER_01 11:31

That's like a method of torture. Yes. Like my um my cousin is an environmental scientist, and when he was studying at uni, it was during the lockdown, so he was like trapped in his holes. So he was delivered three kilos of soil to his dormitory, and he literally just had to test three different types of soil in his bedroom for about like a week. And I remember him messaging us going, I've literally just been sent three bags of dirt, and that's it. And I was like, That's an interesting life to have.

SPEAKER_00 12:01

I I my old manager at my my work a long time ago um had a degree in environmental management that he had never used and just became a middle manager in a corporate role. Um, but it for his dissertation or something, he had to go out and do field work. Um, and part of the field work was just throwing a one meter square randomly on some on some land where they were, some wild land, and then delicately counting everything that was in there. Oh my gosh, every kind of flora and fauna and all of that. Oh you gotta you just fling it into a field and then spend four hours on your hands and knees going, no and get out of the quadrant you weren't here to start with.

SPEAKER_01 12:37

I like repetitive tasks. I I get excited by repetitive tasks, but not ones that are like soul crushingly dull.

SPEAKER_00 12:44

What kind of repetitive task isn't soul crushingly dull?

SPEAKER_01 12:48

Like something like oh, like like crocheting is repetitive. Okay, that's fine. Knitting is repetitive. I like the sort of like I love filling in forms.

SPEAKER_00 12:59

Sorry. I I am gonna scoff here. Um particular kind of forms?

SPEAKER_01 13:04

Like like ones you have to handwrite. Like, do you remember doing the census? And they'd send the documents in the post, and it'd be like that little purple booklet that obviously don't do anymore, and it'd have like those little squares where you had to put each letter like a block capital. I used to love that.

SPEAKER_00 13:19

See, I I I love large-scale bureaucracy like that, like census and stuff like that, because it just highlights it highlights the wonderfulness of the British citizenship and just British people in general. Because it was there was this the last census they did, they after the last census, there were enough people that jokingly went, I identify as a Jedi, that it's now an official thing. Like people will say, Yes, I can be Jedi. My plan was exactly, you know. Yes, exactly. The British public overwhelmingly voted vote in McBoat face, and then they didn't keep it, and I think they should have, because I think it's I think it's wonderful. Because honestly, I think we are the only country in the world where where that would happen.

SPEAKER_01 14:08

With a bit of a sense of humour.

SPEAKER_00 14:09

I mean, can you imagine it wouldn't happen in Germany? Oh no. Nah, nah, that'd be too serious. Wouldn't happen in America. Oh, it would be insulting in America.

SPEAKER_01 14:17

It'd be like it'd be like the freedom bird.

SPEAKER_00 14:20

It'd be like the the the USS Golden Eagle. Yeah, something like that. Like freedom. Oh, to be fair, look at look at the whole war in Iraq and the name of that thing. I've I will be I would not be surprised if there is a a navy frigate of some sort produced in the next couple of years called the USS Epic Fury.

SPEAKER_01 14:40

Yeah. Top gun. Yeah. No, it's it's yeah, no, it's Rain of Fire. British people do have a sense of humour. And I think we have to because we're so self-deprecating as individuals that like we just take the piss out of ourselves all the time. I remember I can't remember who I was working. No, it was no, it was when I was living with a Spanish roommate when I first moved to Newcastle who didn't really speak much English, but she could not wrap her head around the fact that I'd just take the piss out of myself all the time. She was kind of like, Why are you being so mean to yourself? To myself. And I'd be like, Well, that's just what we do. Why that's maybe why I'm permanently like sad, because I'm just like, oh, I'm bullying myself because I'm British.

SPEAKER_00 15:21

Oh, but it's so true. I mean, my closest group of friends that I still speak to now from my years and years of working in corporate roles, are just a small group of lads that I work with, and we are awful to each other.

SPEAKER_01 15:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 15:35

Like genuinely horrible to each other.

SPEAKER_01 15:37

Yeah, I mean me and dad are just like.

SPEAKER_00 15:40

One of them put on the group chat the other day that he was finally getting married. Just just, you know, said oh I'm getting married on Saturday. Um one of them came back saying who too. So he replied saying your mum.

SPEAKER_02 15:52

Oh no.

SPEAKER_00 15:53

At which point the other guy replied saying, I thought she was looking fancy.

SPEAKER_01 15:58

Is it like year nine that you're in at the minute? Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 16:03

But it's just fun.

SPEAKER_01 16:04

Yeah, like me and me and my brother, in he texted me and invited me to the little shop of horrors um stage play in Newcastle. And apparently it's meant to be terrible.

SPEAKER_00 16:19

Like genuinely awful.

SPEAKER_01 16:20

Apparently it's meant to be awful. And I'm so excited. Oh, so I mean so awful, it's good. Bearing in mind, my brother, when I had to do like a dance recital, because I did a lot of dance recitals when I was a teenager, because I studied it at A-level, would you believe? Never used it either. So five, six, seven, eight. But um, I did a performance, and the people that were on before me were so bad that my brother was sat in the audience and he actually drew blood in his leg because he was jabbing his house key into his leg to try and stop himself from laughing. Oh, that is bad. So we both said we're gonna have our house keys at the ready for this.

SPEAKER_00 16:59

So you're you are voluntarily paying money to go and see. No, he got free tickets. Oh, okay, fair enough.

SPEAKER_01 17:05

It's one of those that basically I'm the only person who he can bring because we're just gonna laugh all the way through it. Is it a comedy?

SPEAKER_00 17:12

Little Shop of Horrors, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 17:14

Okay, well that's my musical, isn't it? I don't know. Is it I think it is that I think it's a musical. But yeah, so that'll be interesting.

SPEAKER_00 17:20

So, question for you then. Oh, let's just leave. No, no, let's leave it. So if you go to a show, like a comedy show, theatre show, even a film and stuff like that, um, so you've gone somewhere to for somebody to be presented and to be entertained, um, and you get halfway through and it's rubbish. You're not enjoying it. Will you leave? Are you a lever or do you just stoically sit there and waste another half of uh the show?

SPEAKER_01 17:52

It depends on the duration of said thing. So if I was in a I think for me, if in this day and age, stage shows and theatre stuff is actually quite expensive. Like it's more expensive than it was like when I was younger. Because until you actually you do spend quite a lot on a night out when you go to the theatre.

SPEAKER_00 18:11

You do.

SPEAKER_01 18:12

So for me, I'm more selective because I'm like, it's not like you just chuck in a tenor and then just but you pay your money, you spent 50 quid on a ticket each historically sit there.

SPEAKER_00 18:24

You're halfway through, you're in you're in the in the interval and you come out with whoever you've gone to see it, and you look at each other and you go, This is really shit, isn't it?

SPEAKER_01 18:31

If I I this sound this makes me sound like such a Yorkshire woman at heart, but if I'd have paid for it and paid good money for it, I will sit through that thing. So I will if I've been gifted the tickets, if I didn't pay for it, I would be out of there.

SPEAKER_00 18:46

So I will always leave.

SPEAKER_01 18:48

Will you?

SPEAKER_00 18:48

I will always leave on the basis. Yes, doesn't matter how much I've paid for it either, I will leave. Because, and this is my logic, okay. I may have paid 50 quid to be entertained for two hours. But if the first hour of it is in no way entertaining, then why would I go and do another hour of that? I may as well just go and enjoy my life for now for an hour somewhere else. Because I'm not getting anything else, I'm not gonna get that time back. What you're doing is you're actually giving them more time to be bored.

SPEAKER_01 19:17

I mean, I think I'm see, I'm the kind of person who like my dad is the kind of person who will watch any sport because he just likes the fact that you're seeing people who are elite in their field doing something, and that's quite fun to watch. So it's like, you know, if you could put on like elite tiddlywinks or something on for him, and he would watch the whole thing. And I'm kind of similar when it comes to performances in the sense that I because I've worked in production, I've worked in events, I've worked in like big audience stuff, is that I find interesting things that isn't just the story, so I will stick around to see how they've done stuff or like just be part of the the atmosphere, and like I I quite like all of the additional stuff around the actual show itself. Like I've got I I love watching like I went to see the Book of Mormon um in 2022, fell asleep halfway through it, and it was because I was pregnant with Esme and it was I was exhausted and I didn't know at the time, I just thought I was really tired. But I was sat behind the spotlight lighting guy on the like the rig at the top in the balcony, and I literally spent most of the time watching him and not the show because I was so interested in what he was doing. So actually, I mean if I was if a show was really boring, I'd find something else to entertain me. But yeah, I I I don't think I've ever left.

SPEAKER_00 20:44

Have you ever left a film in a cinema?

SPEAKER_01 20:48

No, but I have been at films where people have left and I have stuck it out. Which is one that you remember?

SPEAKER_00 20:56

Avatar.

SPEAKER_01 20:57

Really? Yeah. I've never seen it.

SPEAKER_00 20:59

So Avatar, beautifully produced, absolutely beautiful film, entirely gash dialogue.

SPEAKER_01 21:06

I know because it's all about the visuals, isn't it?

SPEAKER_00 21:08

It's so bad. The bit that got me was I was about an hour in, and there's a bit where one of the characters, they're having this little scene, and I I think they they kind of lifted a leaf with rainwater and poured it in, and it was the it's it was the cheesiest thing, and it was the nail that was it. Straw that broke the camel's back. I just got up and left. I was just like, I'm not wasting any more of my time with this. And what I didn't get was that there were so many people were going. I mean, there were people who were so obsessed with Avatar they wanted to go there, you know. There's there's this cult following of Avatar, and it's it's really not that's not I mean it's kind of age now, hasn't it?

SPEAKER_01 21:43

But I mean the ones that I remember people leaving were weirdly La La Land. Which I I mean it's a long ass film, and if you're not into jazz, I'm not into jazz. Yeah, it's a musical and it's basically Ryan Gosling. Playing a lot of jazz and Emma Stone dancing a lot. And people left during that, which I was quite surprised at because everyone loves that film. The other one was The Golden Compass.

SPEAKER_00 22:11

Good book when you watch the film. Um so the w one of the worst films I've seen, I was strapped in because it was in COVID time and we were in a drive-thru, so I couldn't drive away. So I was forced to watch the whole of A Star Is Born with Bradley Cooper and Lady Garga.

SPEAKER_01 22:25

Did you like that film?

SPEAKER_00 22:26

It was so boring.

SPEAKER_01 22:27

I feel good film. Lady Garga's good in it. Terrible. What's the worst film you've ever seen?

SPEAKER_00 22:33

Oh.

SPEAKER_01 22:34

But like thinking it was going to be good and people liked it and you just hated it with an undying passion.

SPEAKER_00 22:40

I don't think I've hated anything with an undying passion. I just I I've been completely non-plus by it, probably Avatar, because I walked out of it.

SPEAKER_01 22:47

I think for me it was burlesque. Remember when that film was on? That was 2009, 2010. I was on the plane to New York in 2011 and I was watching it thinking, this is gonna be amazing. I've heard loads of good reviews. Nothing happens, like the entire film. Nothing happens. Christine Aguilera does a thing and Cher does a thing.

SPEAKER_00 23:11

But that was a star is born.

SPEAKER_01 23:12

It was really obvious what was gonna happen, and they just it was just oh I mean, spoiler alert of what I'm gonna say for any, if there are listeners out there, um it's that you know when a star is born when it implies that Bradley Cooper has killed himself.

SPEAKER_00 23:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 23:29

Because I hadn't seen it before when I first watched it, I wasn't really paying attention. And I thought the sequence was because it was like the dog following him to the garage. I thought he was gonna kill the dog. I was like, What's he got against the dog? I was like, why is he getting a belt and going into the garage? And why why is he taking the dog with him? What's the dog doing?

SPEAKER_00 23:55

And then I realized that it was then I was like, I'm just gonna take a belt and the dog to the garage.

SPEAKER_01 24:01

What'd you do with the dog? Then it cuts to the next scene and it's like he's obviously dead because there's like sirens and stuff. And I was like going, what happened to the dog? And then obviously I realised, and then when I realized that it was him that obviously that had happened, I reround it and was like, oh, okay.

unknown 24:21

That's what happened.

SPEAKER_01 24:22

Because when you watch it, it looks like he's leading the dog to the garage.

SPEAKER_00 24:26

Oh god. See, I've I've got a secret I've got a secret joy of really bad films. Like B movie type stars.

SPEAKER_01 24:35

Oh, I have the best two for you to watch. Have you? That actually changed my life. Go on then. One is called Copper Wind.

SPEAKER_00 24:42

Copper Wind.

SPEAKER_01 24:43

Copper Wind.

SPEAKER_00 24:44

Which the director So is that as in C O P Space A Wind?

SPEAKER_01 24:49

Copper, C-O-P-P-E-R Wind, um, which has the line ride the fire. And also it was directed by the the name of the director and God. It's on Prime. Me and my cousin watched it and had the funniest night of our life. We both stand by the fact it was the best night ever. The second one, Titanic 2.

SPEAKER_00 25:10

Oh, good lord.

SPEAKER_01 25:10

Have you seen that?

SPEAKER_00 25:11

No.

SPEAKER_01 25:12

Because guess what happens on Titanic 2?

SPEAKER_00 25:15

They raise it and it sinks again?

SPEAKER_01 25:17

No, it sinks again.

SPEAKER_00 25:19

Huh?

SPEAKER_01 25:20

It sinks again.

SPEAKER_00 25:22

But but they have to lift it first.

SPEAKER_01 25:23

No, no, no. They've got a new boat called Titanic 2. Oh, oh, I see. And everyone's walking on the ship going, it won't happen again.

SPEAKER_00 25:30

And I spoke it out again. That's brilliant. It's not even a comedy. I mean, to be fair. They could have kept going for it. Oh, the last 13. No, 14 times is never gonna happen.

SPEAKER_01 25:48

All the people going, they really fixed the YouTube says last.

SPEAKER_00 25:52

Has that not become a B movie? You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_01 25:55

Oh, you're gonna have to come in. Oh, look, it's John.

SPEAKER_00 26:09

Anyhow, we're back.

SPEAKER_01 26:10

Oh, I can't remember what I was saying.

SPEAKER_00 26:12

No, me neither.

SPEAKER_01 26:13

Um uh oh no, I mean we were talking about um if you were gonna see a show, would you leave Titanic 2? Titanic 2. I don't want to see it.

SPEAKER_00 26:24

Um but no, my film. Oh, yeah, like that I would recommend anybody watch because it is the most mental craziness.

SPEAKER_01 26:31

It's ever a bad film.

SPEAKER_00 26:33

It's terrible but amazing in its awfulness. Um, is a 28-minute masterpiece called Kung Fury.

SPEAKER_01 26:40

I've heard of that.

SPEAKER_00 26:42

It's got a cult following, it is genuinely amazing. I can't even describe the plot to you because you'd think I was mad.

SPEAKER_01 26:50

Well, I have a film like that called God Bless America. Have you seen that? I have not. Oh, no one's ever seen it, but it is such a good film, but it's only good if you have the darkest sense of humour ever.

SPEAKER_00 27:02

I will have to try this film.

SPEAKER_01 27:04

It's it's I don't know if it's aged well. It's it's I mean, I can tell you about it.

SPEAKER_00 27:10

No, I think I think these films need watched.

SPEAKER_01 27:13

You need to watch if the context, watch God Bless America. It is it was one of the films that when I was like a really emo cynical teenager, I enjoyed watching it because it was dark and it was bad but funny, but yeah, and I think and it's really stuck with me as one of my favourite films.

SPEAKER_00 27:34

See, one of my favourite sci-fi films is a film called Dark City, which is not very well known.

SPEAKER_01 27:38

I've heard of that as well.

SPEAKER_00 27:40

But Dark City is a really good film.

SPEAKER_01 27:41

Yeah, it's very gritty. What's your favourite film of all time?

SPEAKER_00 27:45

Ooh, I don't think I can actually have one.

SPEAKER_01 27:47

Because I have a top three.

SPEAKER_00 27:49

Is is Back to the Future in one of them.

SPEAKER_01 27:52

No.

SPEAKER_00 27:52

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_01 27:53

It's my favourite trilogy, one of my favourite trilogies.

SPEAKER_00 27:56

Okay, I think I I vacillate between many different films, so I don't think I can actually just have one. I I will always go back and watch the Matrix trilogy because I've I have great memories. I I like that. I think I think it's a great film. It was, you know, quite iconic of the time.

SPEAKER_01 28:11

Never seen it. It's a good film. My favourite film of all time, and has been my favourite film now for 21 years, is um oh my god, what who oh my god, brain fart.

SPEAKER_00 28:24

Um your favourite film with 21 years.

SPEAKER_01 28:26

No, the producers from 2005. But oh my god, what's the name of the guy?

SPEAKER_00 28:33

I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 28:34

The pr the bloke who Bloomin' wrote it and did it?

SPEAKER_02 28:38

I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 28:40

Oh anyway, so it's it's the producers with my with um they Nathan Lane and um him from Oh my god, what's wrong with me? Him from Ferris Bu Bu Bueller's Ferris Bueller's Day Off. Yeah, what's his name?

SPEAKER_00 28:55

No idea.

SPEAKER_01 28:56

Guy plays Simba in The Lion King.

SPEAKER_00 28:58

I don't know, I've never seen it.

SPEAKER_01 28:59

Oh my god, what's happened to my brain? Basically, the producers, Uma Thurman, Nathan Lane, that other guy, it's the best film ever. I know all the words. Okay. It's a musical. Have you seen it?

SPEAKER_00 29:12

No, it's a musical. But I don't do musicals.

SPEAKER_01 29:16

If I said it was a musical about Hitler, I still get bored by it. But it's a comedy.

SPEAKER_00 29:20

I still get bored by it.

unknown 29:22

Right.

SPEAKER_00 29:22

But I I I kind of I'm I'm limited to one musical, Rocky Horror Picture Show.

SPEAKER_01 29:27

Oh no. Oh I've dressed up for one of those shows before. But which is the first thing. Oh, you went and talked to Frankenfurter.

SPEAKER_00 29:36

Full the full shebang corset, makeup.

SPEAKER_01 29:38

How did that make you feel? Did you feel at home?

SPEAKER_00 29:41

I didn't mind. The hardest thing was walking in heels. Well finding heels of my size, and then walking from the um Princip from the um car park in Sunderland to the theatre.

SPEAKER_01 29:52

What, because of everyone coming after you wanting your number?

SPEAKER_00 29:55

No, because I'm not used to heels.

SPEAKER_01 29:56

Yeah, no, I'm not either. But if you you give me a film to watch and I'll give you a film to watch.

SPEAKER_00 30:01

Matrix.

SPEAKER_01 30:02

The producers. Okay. And that's and and eventually I'll remember the guy who's who did it, and it's absolutely gonna kill me.

SPEAKER_00 30:09

You see, at 45 years old, I've seen so many films now that I forget lots, and then I will occasionally just remember one. I'll be like, oh my god, that's amazing. So one that I will always like to go back to is a silly one. It's airplane. I still think Airplane is a fantastic film. Oh my god. Because every time every time I watch it, I see another one, another gag that I just didn't get the first time.

SPEAKER_01 30:29

I just want to say good luck, we're all counting on you. I literally know it off by heart. Like I know the whole film off by heart. You know?

SPEAKER_00 30:35

It's got Shirley, you can't be shirking.

SPEAKER_01 30:37

Don't call me Shirley. How like navigate all those complex instruments? I love it.

SPEAKER_00 30:45

It looks like I picked the wrong day to quit meth.

SPEAKER_01 30:51

Did you have steak or fish? I had lasagna. I love it. It's the best for me.

SPEAKER_00 30:57

For me, I've always loved crystal. My drinking problem is back again. And he just pours it over himself.

SPEAKER_01 31:06

It is brilliant. Oh my god, every single but like this because there's a there's a outside uh the studio, there's a sign that says just for loading and unloading. And every and now and every time I see it, I go, the red zone is for loading and the white zone is for unloading. No, you bitch.

SPEAKER_00 31:29

See, I think I love I do love that kind of film. It's like I I think a couple of years ago we rewatched um over Christmas. I rewatched uh a couple of the Austin Powers films because I hadn't seen them for a few years, and they were great. I still laughed out loud at the three-point turn gag. I've never seen it. Oh, it's it's bad but brilliant.

SPEAKER_01 31:49

Yeah, what's one that I'm like Wayne's World.

SPEAKER_00 31:52

I I can I can look back and watch Wayne's World and just really enjoy it.

SPEAKER_01 31:56

Oh see, my what's your comfort film? Because I have a lot of comfort films again that you'll watch, and it doesn't matter how many times you watch it, you'll just watch it on a loop.

SPEAKER_00 32:08

I don't really have a comfort film.

SPEAKER_01 32:09

Oh, I have so many.

SPEAKER_00 32:10

I I probably have more comfort series.

SPEAKER_01 32:13

Oh, I have a comfort series.

SPEAKER_00 32:14

So I'd watch Scrubs a lot, yeah. And um then more recently, although not that recent, it's Brooklyn 99. Brooklyn 99, one of the best TV shows out there.

SPEAKER_01 32:24

Oh yeah, I mean Shits Creek is probably my comfort one. Um and comfort film-wise, it's gotta be Pirates of the Caribbean, Lord of the Rings, uh Titanic, which isn't really much of a comfort one because you see people dying, but it's comforting. Um and yeah, I have a lot and Twilight, oh Twilight.

SPEAKER_00 32:46

Oh really? Oh little glittery skin man.

SPEAKER_01 32:49

Guilty pleasure takes me back to being like 14 and just like thinking that's a healthy relationship.

SPEAKER_00 32:59

Me and the ex-wife years ago did quite enjoy watching True Blood.

SPEAKER_01 33:05

I've never seen that. I wasn't really into the vampire world, I was just into Twilight, which you know, if you want to know why Esme is called Esme.

SPEAKER_00 33:13

I assume there's a character in there called Esme.

SPEAKER_01 33:16

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 33:16

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 33:17

So people ask me, why did you call her Esme? And I always go, Oh, it's just a lovely name that I like. It's actually because I was watching Twilight while I was pregnant with her. But that's a nice name.

SPEAKER_00 33:28

Stranger things have happened. Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 33:30

It's all fine. Exactly. So what else are we talking about?

SPEAKER_00 33:34

Uh I'm not sure we're probably getting towards the end actually, because I can't remember. I mean, I don't know how long it's been recording and stuff like that.

SPEAKER_01 33:40

No, I mean we were the spanner was a Macam Spanner was thrown into the works.

SPEAKER_00 33:44

It was, which you know I'll have to cut out, which means this bit won't make sense. I will have to cut this bit out as well, although I'll probably know. It'll never end the context.

SPEAKER_01 33:51

Oh, and so my my I have a question for you.

SPEAKER_00 33:54

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 33:55

If your friends, if you have any, were we gonna give you an award, what would the award be for?

SPEAKER_00 34:04

Most pedantic man in the world.

SPEAKER_01 34:07

Okay. In the world?

SPEAKER_00 34:10

I am quite pedantic. I mean, maybe not Chris level pedantic, but close.

SPEAKER_01 34:15

You're like second in command on the pedantic express.

SPEAKER_00 34:20

I'll sit there on the evening time and there'll be TV on and I'll sit I'll I'll just comment. I'll just sit there and go, well, that wouldn't work.

SPEAKER_01 34:27

I bet your wife loves that.

SPEAKER_00 34:29

She laughs at it. Well, she doesn't, but she she tolerates.

SPEAKER_01 34:32

You just zone it out after a while.

SPEAKER_00 34:34

Yeah, that's exactly what it is. She just zones it out. But I can't I can't stop myself. I just you know, I'll leave I'll even if I'm in a particularly fractious mood, I'll I'll be sitting there just kind of doing a crossword or something with TV on in the background, and I'll say something grammatically wrong and I'll just correct it.

SPEAKER_01 34:53

No, I'm with you on that. I can't stand the fact that I've read many books recently where there have been typos, and that upsets me.

SPEAKER_00 35:01

People not using an and a properly.

SPEAKER_01 35:03

Yeah, and people just putting no, it's the lack of apostrophes that upsets me.

SPEAKER_00 35:09

Oh not apostrophes.

SPEAKER_01 35:10

Like when people like I don't because there's a lot of um soft plays I take Esme to, which are fantastic establishments, but the people who own them haven't quite mastered grammar. So there's one that I've been to recently where it says like um children's soft play and great for families, and it's literally says children's without the apostrophe, soft play, great for families, which is family apostrophe s. And you're just like, Oh, I'm giving my money to this establishment, but I'm not happy about it.

SPEAKER_00 35:44

It could be worse. They could have replaced one of the S's with a Z.

SPEAKER_01 35:48

Oh no, every single thing has got a different like crazy kingdoms, 2Ks, like they've all got silly names, but yeah, no, so yeah, I'm I had a question that I'm gonna save it for next week.

SPEAKER_00 36:00

So but hang on, what about you? If your friends, if you have any, would give you see, it's done it. They're all in my head anyway. Okay, get them on paper. Um if your supposed friends were gonna give you an award, what would it be for? Four?

SPEAKER_01 36:18

Um see I make an exceptional cheesecake.

SPEAKER_00 36:26

So you'd get it for cheese?

SPEAKER_01 36:28

No, cheesecake.

SPEAKER_00 36:29

Cheesecake, okay.

SPEAKER_01 36:30

Yeah, or like I re I'm really good at um just I don't know what I'm good at. I'm not good at anything. But I'm good at baking. I think that's my winner. I'll get an award for baking, not the bake off. Oh, and I make a good loaf of bread.

unknown 36:48

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 36:48

I get an award for my loaf of bread. But if you have a bread maker, and if anyone's listening with a bread maker, do you have one?

SPEAKER_00 36:54

I have a bread maker, it's not been used for years.

SPEAKER_01 36:56

Do you find that you have good runs and bad runs?

SPEAKER_00 36:59

I find it stays in the utility and never gets used.

SPEAKER_01 37:02

Like I'll have I'll be like I'll say to my dad, I'll be like, I'm having a bad run with bread at the minute, and he's like, I know exactly what you mean. And then some days it's amazing. I use the exact same ingredients, exact same recipe, exact same time, but some days it comes out like a tiny hockey book, and other days it comes out like a massive blooming, like I'm basically warbitons. So it's hard to decipher what, but at the minute I'm on a good run. Don't know why, but I am good. So that's the headlines for today. Um next week, do you think you'll be thriving or surviving?

SPEAKER_00 37:35

Um, well, we I don't think there's gonna be much change. So I'll probably thrive.

SPEAKER_01 37:38

Maybe this format isn't really useful because you're it's always unchanging.

SPEAKER_00 37:42

No, the format I think works. Oh, are you saying that I need to have some bad shit happen to me? That's what you're saying.

SPEAKER_01 37:49

No, because you have bad shit happen and you're still thriving. Okay. What could what will take you down?

SPEAKER_00 37:55

Challenge except no, no, at least not. Well, I don't know actually, because I try and rise above anything. It's quite uh difficult. But I'll try, I'll always try and thrive. But we've got the long bank holiday weekend coming, which means not a lot's gonna happen between now and how many Easter eggs are you gonna eat? Not a lot. Oh because I'm back into my running and trying to lose weight and stuff.

SPEAKER_01 38:17

Yeah, but not over Easter.

SPEAKER_00 38:18

Always over Easter.

SPEAKER_01 38:19

Jesus wants you to eat all the eggs.

SPEAKER_00 38:21

Really?

SPEAKER_01 38:21

That's the whole point.

SPEAKER_00 38:22

Jesus died for eggs.

SPEAKER_01 38:24

He was in an egg, and then he hatched on Easter Monday.

SPEAKER_00 38:28

Um but but but and technically for you, by the time we do this next podcast, you'll have only been work you'll have only worked at the end. It'll be my Tuesday. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 38:36

Um I think I will be thriving.

SPEAKER_00 38:41

Of course you will. You'll have had a lovely weekend.

SPEAKER_01 38:43

Because I'm gonna work till my eyes fall out today, and then I'm gonna go home, pretend I don't have a job for four days five days, and then return, and hopefully everyone else will have done the same and not emailed me.

SPEAKER_00 38:56

Huzzah.

SPEAKER_01 38:57

And here's a question should I put an out of office on?

SPEAKER_00 39:00

Yes. Why would you not?

SPEAKER_01 39:05

Because that that implies boundaries, and I don't have any.

SPEAKER_00 39:08

I think it's a sensible thing to do to set people's expectations, because otherwise they're not going to get a reply for five days, and that would be rude.

SPEAKER_01 39:15

Yeah, that's true.

SPEAKER_00 39:16

Although this is this is the woman who always has 15 unopened conversations on WhatsApp.

SPEAKER_01 39:21

I'm down to five.

SPEAKER_00 39:22

Oh, well done.

SPEAKER_01 39:23

And if I'm honest, I'm just hoping that everyone in the world decides to do the same thing and just not contact me for five days.

SPEAKER_00 39:32

Shall I not message you for five days?

SPEAKER_01 39:33

No, no, you can, but like people who expect things of me to just all go off and have a nice holiday and don't talk to me until Tuesday. If you're listening, you know who you are.

SPEAKER_00 39:44

Hang on. This is episode eight, so this is gonna get released in like Christmas?

SPEAKER_01 39:49

Christmas, yeah. It's gonna be like, yeah, anyway. Bye.

SPEAKER_00 39:58

Yeah, this was a very rambling episode. So if you've managed to last this long, thank you so much.

SPEAKER_02 40:04

We will try and um we will try and do better next time. Bye.