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SIM Ep 828 Pod 244: A superstar artist, soapstar queens, and a toe for everyone!
Ep. 828
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Politics, power and sex play important parts in both of this week’s interviews. Ahead of new BBC documentary, Becoming Frida Kahlo, Hannah’s been on the Zoom with filmmakers Louise Lockwood and Nancy Bornat to talk about the superstar Mexican painter, who channelled her pain, heartache and womanhood into her art.
Jen takes us even further back in time to revisit Tudor queens, Catherine of Aragon and Anne Boleyn, who are the focus of a new exhibition at Hever Castle, the childhood home of Anne Boleyn. Assistant curator Kate McCaffrey chats about Catherine and Anne: Queens, Rivals, Mothers and explains why we still find their lives so fascinating.
In Jenny Off The Blocks, Jen’s talking about athletics, and a big new deal in women’s sport. In Rated or Dated, there’s bowling, blunts and bonus Tara Reid, as we watch a bonafide cult classic: 1998’s The Big Lebowski. And in the Bush Telegraph, we’re talking boats, bellends, some really bad policies, and Mick is absolutely not wishing you a happy International Women’s Day.
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SIM Ep 918 Pod 282: Broken bits, Disobedient Bodies, and an absolutely massive voice
01:10:18It’s pretty well documented that the beauty industry isn’t particularly kind to women, but why are we accepting the capitalist forces that make us feel almost universally crap about ourselves? And where do they even come from? These are questions that writer, academic and broadcaster Emma Dabiri sets out to answer in her new book Disobedient Bodies: Reclaim Your Unruly Beauty. And in this week’s podzine she chats to Jen about beauty standards, empowerment and doing beauty better.Meanwhile, Hannah gets to be a hero just for fixing a hoover, as she chats to Fiona Dear, co-director of UK Strategy and Operations at The Restart Project, which aims to help us fix our own stuff and prevent it going to landfill.In Jenny Off The Blocks, we're fighting fit again, and Jen’s bigging up Katie Taylor. Plus, we’re appreciating every single one of Jane Horrocks’s voices in this week’s Rated or Dated, as we revisit 1998's Little Voice. Can Mickey ever get over Michael Caine and his bee facts? Should she even try?
917. SIM Ep 917 Chops 280: Arit Anderson and a big love of trees
41:57Arit Anderson, garden designer, presenter on BBC Gardeners’ World, host of the Growing Greener podcast, and passionate environmentalist, really loves trees. So much so, she’s co-authored a book about them with botanist Dr Henrik Sjöman. The Essential Tree Selection Guide, in association with the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, is a brilliant, comprehensive, jargon-free look at how which tree we choose to plant where really matters, as well as a tree bible when it comes to their climate resilience, carbon storage and other ecosystem benefits.Our Mick also really loves trees, so was delighted to get Arit on the Zoom to chat about our arboreal friends, how we can save them, how they can save us, gardening opportunities, starting again in your forties, and how we can all do our bit when it comes to sustainability. Photograph of Arit by Diana MonkhurstSIM Ep 916 Pod 281: Defending, trending and upending
01:20:41As you know, we love an angry woman who gets shit done, so Mick's been on the Zoom with Lisa Baskott to find out about 2nd Line of Defence, her award-winning female-focused recruitment agency for the private security sector. Jen's chatting to fashion editor Bay Garnett about her new book Style and Substance: Why What We Wear Matters, thrifting a bargain and sustainable fashion. In Jenny Off The Blocks, Premiership women’s rugby is back and there's news about the environment and missing apostrophes in BT. And in Rated or Dated, are we laughing or wincing or both, as we watch Hannah's pick - 1983's Trading Places?
SIM Ep 915 IMD 2023: James Graham’s Dear England
31:50Since it’s International Men’s Day, we’ve only gone and invited a man to chat to us for this week’s Chops, because gender inequality is bad for everyone. And what group of men can better demonstrate this than... the England football team?Screenwriter and playwright James Graham’s new play Dear England, got off to a very successful start at the National Theatre and is now enjoying an extended run in London’s West End. So our Jen caught up with James to find out more about it. They chat toxic masculinity, fear of failure, national identity, and the gaffer himself, Gareth Southgate – call him Gareth.
SIM Ep 914 Outside The Box #60
39:24Oh hello loadsa new TV, welcome to Outside The Box. This week we're talking about Coleen Rooney: The Real Wagatha Story, The Newsreader, Robbie Williams, Shetland, What We Do In the Shadows, Planet Earth III, Bodies and Savior Complex. If there's not something in that extraordinarily mixed bag for you, we don't know what to tell you.913. SIM Ep 913 Pod 280: Circus thrills, Joni Mitchell’s skills and, urgh, fucking Twilight
01:13:41Joni Mitchell is 80, and so Hannah got on the Zoom with musician Jesca Hoop to celebrate the high priestess of folk and living legend. Mitchell’s songs have soundtracked our lives and her pioneering work changed music forever, all of which Jesca explores in her new Radio 4 series, Legend: The Joni Mitchell Story.Meanwhile, Mick’s been chatting to Yuliia Pykhtina, hoola hoop goddess and co-founder of be-Spiegeltented circus-cabaret, La Clique. They talk circus life, living in Ukraine, and delicious round potato snacks.In Jenny Off the Blocks, Jen’s once again tipping her hat to the incredible Emma Hayes, and – SPOILER! – there is absolutely no hat-tipping going on in Rated or Dated as the team watch 2008’s chaste, twinkly vampire, toxicity-fest, Twilight. Urgh, fucking Twilight.
SIM Ep 912 Chops 279: Anna Ptaszynski has Everything To Play For
29:30Sport is for everyone says Anna Ptaszynski – QI elf and host of the No Such Thing As A Fish podcast – which is one of the reasons she’s co-authored Everything To Play For: The QI Book Of Sports. In this week’s Chops, she talks to our Jen about how we can make sport more interesting to a wider audience, funny things we didn’t know about sport, novel ways of cheating in the modern pentathlon and, of course, Charlton Athletic.
911. SIM Ep 911 Flicking #43: My Neighbor Totoro
23:55Is it a troll? Is it a cat-rabbit? Is it an imaginary Japanese spirit of the forest? All of the above, because in this month’s Flicking, our Yosra Osman has got us chatting Totoro, more specifically Studio Ghibli’s 1988 animated film, My Neighbor Totoro. Yosra’s a big fan of Hayao Miyazaki’s tale of two sisters who, with their dad, move to a new house in the countryside to be nearer their poorly mum, and have adventures with the wondrous spiritual tree guardian who lives nearby. But will Mick and Hannah be equally charmed? Find out.SIM Ep 910 Pod 279: Time travel, ancient times, and different times
01:25:16With The Lazarus Project – the twist-tastic, time-travelling, Sky sci-fi drama – returning to our screens imminently, our Hannah is chuffed to bits. And even more so to be joined by one of its stars, Anjli Mohindra, on the Zoom, to talk about the show and why she’s just so damn good in it. Mick chats to Natalie Haynes, comedian, classicist and one of our faves. This time, they're talking about Natalie's deep dive into goddesses, which are the subject of her latest book, Divine Might, and include Mick’s new [second] favourite spinster. There’s a Mary Earps love-in in Jenny Off The Blocks, but how much is there to love about 1993’s The Piano? It's the greatest film by a female director of all time, or so some say, but will the team deem it Rated or Dated? Meanwhile, Mick and Hannah cover questionable “lifestyle choices”, and questionable conspiracy theories in the Bush Telegraph, which also contains excellent sheep news.