All Episodes

June 13, 2025 117 mins

On the Saturday Morning with Jack Tame Full Show Podcast for Saturday 14 June 2025, legend of the screen and stage Alison Quigan joins Jack to discuss directing a brand-new theatre production from Roger Hall. 

Jack considers what real life skills we need in the world of AI. 

Kevin has a few thoughts on what skills we should be nurturing and hopes they might translate to more original ideas. 

Francesca Rudkin dishes on the dishy stars in new film ‘Materialists’. 

And Mike Yardley recounts his exploration of the Galapagos Islands. 

Get the Saturday Morning with Jack Tame Full Show Podcast every Saturday on iHeartRadio, or wherever you get your podcasts. 

LISTEN ABOVE 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Mark as Played
Transcript

Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:07):
You're listening to the Saturday Morning with Jack Taine podcast
from news Talk said B, start your weekend off in
style Saturday Mornings with Jack Taine and bpure dot co
dot instead for high quality supplements.

Speaker 2 (00:20):
Us Talk said B.

Speaker 3 (00:45):
My wife was only really listening from the room next door.
She turned to me and said, hang on, what did
the Crusaders win? And I said yeah, and she said
I thought they were losing. I said they were losing
and she said, how.

Speaker 4 (00:57):
Did they win?

Speaker 3 (00:57):
And I said, sweetheart, They're the Crusaders. Winning is what
they do. Like I'm the first to bag on rugby
from time to time, but I got to tell you
that last ten minutes of that Super Rugby semi final
in christ Church last night was amongst the most thrilling
rugby I have seen in so long. Easy to say
when you come out on top, well, when your team
comes out on top, right, but that was an amazing

(01:20):
Super Rugby semi final, and I reckon that last ten
minutes was a final worthy ten minutes. Anyway, we're going
to digest what that Super Rugby semi result means ahead
of tonight's second semi, the Chiefs taking on the Brumbies
of course, hoping for an All New Zealand final. I
think I'm hoping for an All New Zealand final? Or
am I? As well as that? I just asked my

(01:41):
producer Libby a very important question. Do you like Pedro Pascal?
I asked Libby. I don't think I've ever heard someone
answer so quickly in their life. Yes, she said, yes,
be cool, Libby, be cool. Pedro Pascal has a brand
new movie. If you're anything like Libby, you will think
that Pedro Pascal is very, very very handsome. Indeed, so

(02:03):
we're going to tell you about that before ten o'clock
and after ten, our feature interviewed the morning KIW Screen
and theater legend Alison Quigan's going to be with us.
She's not in a new place. She's directing a brand
new play from Sir Roger Hall. So she's going to
tell us about that right after the ten o'clock news.
Can't wait right now though it is eight minutes past nine, Jack,
do you know I still remember the exact seat in

(02:27):
which I was sitting. It was twenty years ago. It
was twenty years ago, which honestly makes me feel a
little bit sick in my mouth. But It was twenty
years ago and I was primed for one of the
key exams in my tertiary education. I had passed tea
line shorthand at forty words a minute, at fifty words

(02:48):
a minute, at sixty words at seventy words a minute.
But to progress on my journalism course and ultimately earn
a degree, I had one final challenge. I had to
pass a tea line shorthand exam at eighty words a minute.
Earned tea line from a wonderful tutor, a woman called Julie,

(03:10):
with exacting standards, a wicked sense of humor, and away
with words. She would walk around the classroom and peer
over your shoulder when you were tracing out different characters.
That's a squitty looking outline, she'd say, with a wry smile.
The moment I realized I had passed eighty words a minute,
I walked up to the front of the class and

(03:31):
kissed her on the cheek. It took five months of work,
with daily lessons. Sometimes you'd be doing three hours in
class every day. I drilled myself with cassette tapes at home,
but in a stuffy room on the draft Street in
central christ Church. Finally, I'd done it. But here's the
crazy thing. That was the very last time I seriously

(03:55):
used tea line shorthand. There's no reflection on Julie. She
was an amazing tutor, and shorthand skills had been fundamental
for journalists for however many decades. But back in two
thousand and five, what no one had apparently stopped to
consider was whether those skills would be necessary in a
world on the cusp of smartphones. What's the point in

(04:18):
trying to keep up with shorthand in an interview when
your phone can record a ABATEAM interview and even transcribe
it in real time. Since our son was born four
months ago, I've kind of found myself thinking a lot
about my shorthand experience in the context of AI, and
I keep kind of returning to this fundamental question, what

(04:40):
skills and knowledge should we actually bother teaching our kids?
In the UK, surveys have suggested that about ninety percent
of university students are using AI to help with assessments. Frankly,
I'm surprised it's not more, but educators around the world
are trying to grapple with how to get around the

(05:00):
likes of chat GPT, clawed and deep seek and assessing
students learning. So far, at least, technology which purports to
scan students submissions for signs of AI is having mixed
results at best. Many assessors are advocating for a complete
return to in person exams with handwritten essays, And yet

(05:21):
in stewing over this, yeah, I couldn't help but wonder
if in some ways that misses the point. It's like
long division in the age of the calculator, right, Sure,
it's a nice to know, but be honest, do you
actually use it? How many of us actually need manual

(05:43):
long division skills in the modern age? And what's the
point in wrote learning historical dates when they are but
a google away? What's the point in learning where to
place a semi colon when you can always spell in
grammar check your work when it comes to AI instead
of trying to work around it, I have been wondering,

(06:05):
are we not just better to embrace it and try
and teach our kids how to maximize the utility of
the technology. Ultimately, though, two points have given me reason
to pause. First of all, it occurs to me that
we as humans are actually not very good at foreseeing
what skills will and won't be relevant in the workplace
of the future. I mean it was only a few

(06:26):
years ago, right that everyone was urging young people to
drop everything and learn how to code. And now coding
jobs are among the first ones being gobbled up by
generitive artificial intelligence. And it's easy, in reflecting in my
tea line shorthand example, to miss an even greater point. Yes,

(06:48):
it's true tea line skills have not been necessary or
helpful in my almost twenty years of journalism. But what
has been helpful is the discipline that experience taught me.
What has been helpful is the organizational skill, is the accountability,
the professionalism in learning tea line shorthand. Yep, I learned shorthand,

(07:12):
but more importantly, I learned how to learn. And whether
it's through long division, historical essays, or anything else, surely
that is the skill that we should aspire to educate
in our kids. Jack Tame ninety two ninety two is
our text number. If you want to send me a
text message this morning, don't forget the standard text costs.

(07:35):
Supply you can email me if you like. Jacketnewstalks, edbeef
dot co, dot inded is my email address before ten o'clock.
We've got a delicious recipe for a Korean beef and
spring onion dish. There's going to be brought to you
live from Field Days this morning, so cannot wait for that.
Kevin Milman will kick us off next for our Saturday together.
Right now, it's fourteen minutes past night. I'm Jack Tame,

(07:56):
It's Saturday morning, and this is newstorgs zedv.

Speaker 1 (07:59):
No better way to kick off your weekend than with Jack.
Saturday Mornings with Jack Tam and bepewured on codet Z
High Quality Supplements Used Talks.

Speaker 3 (08:08):
V B seventeen past nine on News Talks EDB. Steve
says Jack, I agree with you. These skills taught at
school are not truly usually not usually used for future professions,
but are a filtration system determining an individual's application levels
for whatever they may choose to learn in the future.
Grant says Jack. Typically, most of what we learn at

(08:28):
school is not relevant to the career that people end
up working in. That's true, although you know, sometimes it is,
you know, and it's very hard to decide at an
early age what isn't isn't. I suppose the difference with
something like AI is it just seems very comparable to
me to a calculator, say, like, is it It's going
to be here, The technology is going to be here.

(08:49):
It's going to be a big part of everyday life.
So are we not better just to embrace it? You know,
like if no one's learning like you know, I use
the long division example, what's the point in learning long
division when we all have calculators. What's the point in
learning to craft a perfect essay when we all have
generative As Jack says, Aaron, probably your best editorial of

(09:09):
the year. How about that? Thank you ninety two ninety two.
If you want to send us a missus Jacket News
Talks HEDB dot co dot nz is the email address
eighteen past nine, which means Kevin Milne is with us
this morning, Killer Kevin Curder Jack.

Speaker 5 (09:22):
Yes, I learned tea line two and also typing.

Speaker 3 (09:27):
Oh yeah, there's a classic, And.

Speaker 5 (09:31):
So they were. They were tough subjects to deal with. Really,
so could you do?

Speaker 3 (09:36):
Could you do eighty words a minute and tea line?

Speaker 4 (09:38):
Now?

Speaker 5 (09:38):
I don't think I will have to go to my
certificate and have a look at that again. But because
I think that might have been the past mark as well. Yeah,
and I did pass it, but I can't remember going
that quite that fast. Maybe it was sixty was our
past mat.

Speaker 3 (09:52):
I think eighty words a minute is slightly slower than
than I'm like, if I'm speaking right now, I'm probably
speaking slightly faster than eighty words a minute, but it's
only a little bit slower than than you know, so
you get the kind of the crux of everything, but
you're really working for eighty words minute.

Speaker 5 (10:07):
Yeah, for sure. I think your point about learning to
learn is a good one. But I think can't you
learn to learn with something that's actually going to progress
you in some way? And I'd immediately think of foreign
languages for example, Yeah, Maori, Maori? Why not learn to
learn learning Maori?

Speaker 3 (10:26):
Yeah, I mean, you can learn to learn from all
manner of things. But I think language is another really
good example. Right. There are lots of tools now that
can translate language in real time, so it's reasonable to
think that in twenty years time, you know, foreign languages
won't matter. And yet I think we can still see
the value, like a broader value in learning those skills.

Speaker 5 (10:45):
Yeah, I thought they had quite a good example but
you make a good point. No, eventually that will go.
I can't think of anything really though. I can feel
sure that we're learning now that we're going to really need.

Speaker 3 (10:58):
Yeah, well you can't be sure of what we will need, right, Yeah.
I mean this is what I think. Basically, teaching the
broader skills so that people are able to adapt quickly
in the future, that's what you want to try and
inspire in people, and so that people are resilient when
they're when they're experiencing change. That's what you want to
develop in people. And it sounds kind of nebulous, but

(11:18):
actually trying to trying to work that out I think
is you know, should be the goal of education. Anyway,
we're taking the big issues this morning, Kevin, But you
want to talk something slightly more trivial. You want to
talk TV.

Speaker 5 (11:29):
Yeah, well, not that trivial. I mean, I'm not liking
this trend in New Zealand to take shows like The
Chase or Grand Designs and copy them to make The
Chase New Zealand, Grand Designs New Zealand or all the
other shows that we've done it to have we no
ideas of our own anymore. A TV executive if you

(11:50):
sustain his office of the early hours every night watching
overseas shows. Once told me, Kevin, every good idea for
a new TV program has already been thought of. That's
why we keep an eye on the rest of the world.
What there is the world's making now up As a
program maker, I found that depressing and actually wrong. Imagine

(12:12):
if we had taken that stance when Country Calendar was
being created, or fair Go or some of the great
kid shows like What Now and Here's Andy. I'm not
saying we shouldn't keep an eye on what other countries
are making and even maybe stealing some ideas. Fair Go,
for example, was created after some producers looked at the

(12:34):
successful British consumer show That's Life. But they didn't just go,
let's contact the BBC and by the rights to make
That's Life New Zealand. No, they went about making their
own consumer show fair Go, which was different and subsequently
became even more successful in New Zealand than That's Life
was in the UK. Country Calendar, the dog show Absolute

(12:56):
Kewei classics were never copies of some other countries. Program
Are we losing our confidence to come up with shows
that are genuine? Key were originals. I accept there's one
odd brilliant example, the casket tears mm hmm.

Speaker 3 (13:13):
I totally agree Carts is brilliant television. But I suspect Kevin.
Although I absolutely agree and lament that we don't have
more New Zealand productions, I suspect at the core of
all this is an economic problem. I reckon. I don't
have any inside running on this, despite my despite my
job with TVNZEN, I reckon, at the end of the day,

(13:35):
they'll be saying, right, what's going to cost us money,
what's going to make us money? And the truth is
that making local content, especially if it's you know, a
brand new format that you're starting from scratch, is really
really expensive.

Speaker 5 (13:49):
Yes, no, totally except that, and I'm sure that is
the reason. Yeah, it's a it's a reason, pertps, why
we shouldn't be putting more money towards to a TV.

Speaker 4 (14:02):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (14:03):
No, no, yeah, I mean it's a this this is
the thing, right, it's a you know, if you're to
break down the different the different street you know, the
different kind of streams of content, how they describe it
in the TV business, you know, you think about sport,
you think about local content, international content and news. Local
content is just preposterously expensive to make because you still

(14:23):
need to you know, you've got to buy all of
the cameras or hire the cameras and the lights and
all of that stuff. You've got to be there, you've
got to film and telly and unlike other media forms,
it's just preposterously expensive. And so they're always saying, are
we going to make our money back? Sadly?

Speaker 5 (14:39):
Yeah, yeah, well that's right. So that's probably why they
go for programs that have already succeeded somewhere else, although
it'd be very expensive even so to make say Grand
Designs New Zeran. Yeah, I would have thought that would
still be a very expensive program to make. I just say,
why don't we look at Grand Designs written and say, yes,

(15:00):
you can make it a successful show out of architecture
and go out and make our own one.

Speaker 3 (15:04):
Yeah, no, I totally agree. Actually, you know, I've seen
a couple of great shows. I mean, I love Grand
Designs honestly my favorite shows. So don't get me wrong there.
But the company that make Grand Designs also made the
show called Designing Dreams. And if you're into if you're
into architecture and you're into design, I strongly recommend you
go and watch Designing Dreams. So it's on it's on
Neon and it's hosted by matthew Ridge, and you might

(15:26):
go hang on a see god matthew Ridge. But matthew
Ridge does an extraordinary job because he doesn't pretend to
know everything, so he just goes in and the concept
of the show is that they go around with the
New Zealand architect and he gets the architect to introduce
him to some of their work and then to show
him their three favorite New Zealand houses by other designers,
and so there goes and visit those. So there you go.

(15:48):
Designing Dreams is my pick for you this weekend, Kevin.
That is fantastic New Zealand concept.

Speaker 5 (15:53):
Thank you fantastic.

Speaker 3 (15:54):
Thank you for your time this morning, Kevin, and thank
you for your feedback this morning. Jack says, Mars, as
soon as you mentioned long Division, my heart rate went up.
I broke out. Nicole sweat. Yeah, you're probably not the
only one there, sorry, Mars. Twenty five Fars nine on
newstalg's 'b.

Speaker 2 (16:11):
Getting your weekend started.

Speaker 1 (16:13):
It's Saturday Morning with Jack Team on Newstalk's edb.

Speaker 3 (16:17):
When he seven past nine on newstalk's 'B Sporto. Andrew
Savill is still coming down from that amazing Super Rugby
semifinal last night. What did you make of those last
ten minutes there?

Speaker 6 (16:26):
Quite extraordinary, Jack, good morning? Yeah, forty plus phases. The
Crusaders defended on their goal line, which is just out
of us. Well, yes, they gave away a couple of
penalties here and there, especially right near the end. I
think the full time hooter had gone five or six
minutes before the match actually ended officially ended. The Blues

(16:50):
will be kicking themselves because I think they had a
couple of real key chances to score and nail the
conversion which would have taken it to twenty one O
and then we would have gone to extra time, which
probably would have been.

Speaker 2 (17:01):
Even more dramatic.

Speaker 6 (17:05):
But what a finish. And and the Crusaders proved once again,
apart from last year, they prove again how they've been
able to bounce back and again keep this remarkable streak
of home playoff victories intact thirty one hour over pretty
much thirty years, which in itself is remarkable.

Speaker 3 (17:26):
So I had a couple couple of observations from last night.
First of all, it was interesting to me that neither
team seemed at all interested in taking penalties, taking kicking penalties.
Second of all, the Crusaders scrum was just so dominant,
and scrums key scrums. Third, I thought, I thought the

(17:47):
Blues were let down by a couple of little moments,
things like Hoskins a tutu, I you know, like diving
into the kind of you know, into the melee and
stuff right in front of the right in front of
the referee. I was like, where's you know, we're what's
the kind of headspace you know right now? You sort
of need to I get there were a lot of
feelings on the line, but you sort of he sort

(18:07):
of wanted if cooler heads might have helped them to
hold on to that lead a little longer.

Speaker 2 (18:12):
Yeah.

Speaker 6 (18:12):
I was talking to some of the coaches during the week.
Their theory was set piece, which a scrum and lineout
would be absolute key, and it was. I thought Barrett
and the line out for the Crusaders and a couple
of others were outstanding under huge pressure from the Blues.
The Blues contested a lot had the line out, and Yeah,
that scrum Fletcher Null played the whole game again. I mean,

(18:33):
eighty five minutes of this level for a prop is
very rare these days, and he's done it a few
times this season.

Speaker 7 (18:39):
And then.

Speaker 6 (18:41):
The scrum itself of the Crusaders was a key weapon
at times. A couple of other key moments. Yes, the
Blues discipline at times let them down, and then they
had I think one or two props off. Another prop
had to go for a head injury assessment, so they
had to pack down on the scrum with two hookers
and a prop. One of the hookers can play prop,

(19:05):
so they were right on the back foot at scrum
time for a wee while as well the Blues, so
a few things didn't go that way. But yes, their
discipline also let them down at certain stages. The Crusaders
jack only gave away three penalties in that first half,
So overall I think they're they're discipline, And when I
say discipline, I don't necessarily mean foul play, but I

(19:26):
mean offsides and hands in the ruck and just just
keeping things clean. I thought they did a great job
and Ethan Blackadder was outstanding. He was Christian Leo will
he to number eight. I don't know whether he'll make
the All Blacks. He probably should Scott Barrett, As I say,
it's standing and fletching you all that that that Crusader's
pack is going to be very, very hard to beat

(19:48):
in the Grand Final next week.

Speaker 3 (19:50):
What are you picking tonight?

Speaker 6 (19:52):
I think the Chiefs will win. I just can't see
them losing after being beaten in the on the hooter
against the Blues last weekend. Well and truly spent some
time with him during the week though well and truly
fizzed up. They obviously did not want the lucky loser
tag as they call it. Yes, and there was so

(20:15):
much talk during the week about the Blues Crusaders. The
Chiefs have sort of been left to their own devices
and they have been working hard this week to bounce
back from that loss. And I just think that at home,
Clayton McMillan, the coach who they revere in the Waycaddow
and Chiefs area playing for him, I'd be absolutely shocked

(20:38):
if the Chiefs don't win tonight and then we'll have
a Crusader Chiefs Final in christ Yes, should be hungry.

Speaker 3 (20:42):
That would be okay. Lots of sport on this weekend.
So we've got no warriors, but you got the World
Test Championship Final at the moment South Africa, and so
he is hoping. We've got Liam Wawson on the track
at the moment for practice and the Canadian Grand Prix,
so well, make sure we keep you run up to
speed with that this morning. But Ryan Fox, of course
competing in the US Open, coming off a fear bit

(21:03):
of form.

Speaker 6 (21:04):
Yes, quite amazing last few weeks for Ryan Fox, Liam
Lawson just before we get leave f one eighth after
the first practice and they're having a second one sooner
at the moment.

Speaker 2 (21:15):
Yeah.

Speaker 6 (21:15):
The Gulf Oakmont Country Club, which is just north of Pittsburgh,
sort of part of Pittsburgh and Pennsylvania and America.

Speaker 2 (21:22):
What a course.

Speaker 6 (21:24):
Only five players are under par. There's still a lot
of players to finish their second round, but five players
only underpart this stage. American JJ Spawn who has been
there or thereabouts for a little bit of time.

Speaker 2 (21:38):
Adam Scott.

Speaker 6 (21:39):
I see the Aussie veterans tied for seventh, Ryan Fox
plus five overall, which sounds bad, but it's not.

Speaker 5 (21:45):
On that course.

Speaker 6 (21:46):
He's tied for forty second. He will make the cut
and then if he can shoot a couple of subpar
rounds over the weekend or tomorrow and Monday, then he
could still make Top twenty, top thirty. It is a
brutal course. The rough, a lot of bunkers, and it's
really testing the world's best. Is not a lot of

(22:08):
big names up inside the top twenty?

Speaker 3 (22:10):
Yeah, no too right, all right, we'll keep a close
eye on that, Thank you, sir. Oh are you a
fan of Pedro pescal.

Speaker 4 (22:17):
Um?

Speaker 3 (22:19):
So you took longer? My goodness, he's in.

Speaker 6 (22:26):
I was gonna say Terminator Gladiator, isn't he?

Speaker 3 (22:28):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. If you need someone to
take off their shirt and sort of looks hot and steamy,
apparently he's you go to guy.

Speaker 5 (22:38):
I haven't seen a lot of stuff he's been.

Speaker 3 (22:40):
Yeah, sure the moment.

Speaker 6 (22:42):
To me, no one can beat Tom Hardy, pal.

Speaker 3 (22:44):
No, look to me for you Tom Hardy's that's more
Tom Hardy's domain, I think, actually, yes, yeah, yeah, the
shirt off stuff. But anyway, the reason being, of course,
that Pedro pescal is starring in the Materialists, a brand
new film with the Coda Johnson and Chris Evens. So
we're going to tell you about that in a couple
of minutes. Thank you so much for all of your messages.
Someone has pointed out that when it comes to local content,

(23:05):
New Zealand and of course, excuse me, pioneered Treasure Island,
so celebrity trees are island. We were the ones who
came up with that format, But we also came up
with the format pop Stars, which was then arguably ripped
off and kind of became the American idol format. So
we came up with pop Stars. Remember pop Stars was
the show that made true bliss turning back the hands

(23:28):
of time a little bit here, and that was a
very similar format to what became American Idol in the future.
So you a very good point. Twenty five to ten
on Newstalks, he'd be those film picks for you. Next
watch me running twenty ten on Newstalks. V that Stars

(23:58):
the Night by Dua Liba. She's got engaged, isn't she.
I'm reliably informed that her say is Callum Turner, the actor.
She's confirmed it to British Vogue and surprise, surprise, the
ring is not insignificant. Apparently the diamond is insanely big, huge,

(24:19):
So congratulations to Dua Lipa Francesca Rudkin, our film reviewer,
is here in the flesh this morning. So good to
see Hi. You were rolling your eyes when I was
talking to Save about Pedro Pascal. It was very unfair
and was I wrong? Is he not a dish?

Speaker 8 (24:32):
Is absolutely a dish? Even my sixteen year old daughter
thinks he's a dish. Yeah you go, And I just
thought it was quite funny you asking sev.

Speaker 3 (24:41):
Well, you know he's you know, it's the twenty twenty
five Ranca. Let's have a listen to the film that
Pedro Pascal is starring, and this is Materialists.

Speaker 4 (24:53):
Hey are you single? I'm a matchmaker.

Speaker 9 (24:56):
Give me a call if you want to meet somebody.

Speaker 8 (25:01):
How many marriages are you responsible for?

Speaker 1 (25:03):
Now?

Speaker 4 (25:03):
Lucy nine?

Speaker 3 (25:06):
If the girl asks for us, Whoul drink of Water?

Speaker 6 (25:09):
Has the time with the salary over five hundred ground
always missed you deliver?

Speaker 3 (25:16):
Okay. Dakota Johnson, Chris Evans and Pedro Pascal tell us
about Yeah, what a cast.

Speaker 8 (25:22):
So this is Selene Song's follow up to Past Lives,
that was her debut film, which scored her a couple
of Oscar nominations. Actually you can watch that on Disney
Plus if you have that streaming service at the moment.
I really enjoyed this, but I think might be a
little bit polarizing because this film, Jack, it presents very
much as a romantic comedy, and you think you're going
into a rom com, but Selene's song, she takes the

(25:45):
genre a little bit more seriously. She throws a bit
of depth into this film. It's set in New York.
It's lush, beautifully shot, amazing costumes, so hence, you know,
as I say, it looks like a Nora Efron rom com.
But she kind of asks the question, you know, who
is the right person for you? Is it someone that

(26:05):
you kind of do the math and on paper looks
great or is it the person that you actually fall
in love with. So Dakotah Johnson plays Lucy. She's a
matchmaker although she remains single. She's a bit cynical about love.
She treats love like a business. So her clients are
commodities and it's her job to assess their value on
the market Jack and then she will basically find them

(26:27):
a mate, should work out where they sort of sit
in the market and find them a mate. And she
you know, talks about it's all about the math I use.
She uses math to kind of do this. So what
she's basically saying is she needs to find the person
who equals you when it comes to your background, your
political beliefs, your education, your income, and then there's the

(26:49):
even more materialistic things like you know, your BMI, your
looks and your height. You know, you want to tack
all those boxes for people. So that's what the film
does at asks this question, who's the right person for you,
the one on paper or the one that maybe you
fall in love with, and her thoughts are challenged by
two men who come into her life about the same time.
Harry played by Pedro Pascal, who is what they call

(27:09):
a unicorn. Jack, all right, you'd be a unicorn. So
unicorn has it all right, you know, the breeding, the success,
the you know, the education, plus also the height, the
good looks, and money, lots of money, and.

Speaker 3 (27:24):
I'm not sure I would be a unicorn.

Speaker 8 (27:27):
And then there's John, who's played by Chris Evans, who'd,
to be honest with you, he's got all the looks
and things, but.

Speaker 3 (27:33):
He's a broke waiter, so he's not Chris Evans.

Speaker 8 (27:36):
Yeah, he's not lowly on Christ So yeah, he so
I'm making the point. God, it does look like Unicorn,
but he's broke. He's thirty seven, he's a waiter and
a want to be actor, still trying to find his way,
and he's he's a bit angry at the world and things.
So there's two and he's her ex and they reunite.
So these two men are kind of in her life,
which kind of challenge her thoughts about love and stuff. Look,

(27:57):
I liked this. I thought it was quite honest and
almost sort of brutal at times. The dialogue gets a
little bit awkward occasionally, but I just I just like
the way Celine song just kind of hits the mark
with the way we talk about love and relationships and
the transactional nature of them these days. I mean, you
watch Love Island and it's all about what's your type

(28:18):
and they ticking the boxes, and you know, we do
talk about it in this way. And who hasn't dated
someone and drop them for a materialistic reason like oh
they're a bit short, or oh I don't really like
their job. I mean, let's be honest. At some point
in our lives, we've probably all made a decision based
on something quite materialistic, so she's kind of hits the
hits the nail on the head there.

Speaker 3 (28:38):
Yeah, I enjoyed this, Okay, Yeah, sounds good.

Speaker 8 (28:40):
Yeah, and selling song is actually going to be on
the Sunday Session tomorrow just after ten. She was a
matchmaker for a little while. Yeah, she couldn't get a
job as a barista, but she could get a job
as a matchmaker, which is kind of baddy. So we're
going to talk about that tomorrow.

Speaker 3 (28:55):
How intriguing. I wonder if she Okay, I thought you
were going to say that she did that to prepare
for the film.

Speaker 8 (29:01):
The day, since she was a theater director and needed
some money.

Speaker 3 (29:04):
Amazing, Okay, cool materialists, So that's insers. I reckon that.
He's probably already been three times, but she'll be off again.
Next up, another film showing in Cinema's at the moment.
This is Dangerous Animals.

Speaker 4 (29:15):
Oh my god, I don't believe I you talked me
into this?

Speaker 2 (29:20):
All right, grit, there's still one thing we need to
take care of.

Speaker 8 (29:24):
Close, You're right, howcome aboard.

Speaker 10 (29:33):
Dann.

Speaker 8 (29:36):
Oh gosh, this was exhausting. This is a film by
Sean Byrne. He's an Australian horror director. He's done The
Loved Ones and The Devil's Candy and oh my gosh,
he just really does nail be grade horrors. He this
is a lot of fun. Jay Courtney stars in this
film and he's absolutely fantastic. He keeps he completely engaged

(29:59):
on the edge of your seat. He's Tucker. He's a
pretty unhinged, charismatic tourist of parader who takes people out
to cage dive with sharks. But it turns out he's
actually a serial killer who likes to dangle people over
the edge of his place.

Speaker 3 (30:17):
You don't have to suspend reality for this one and
watch what happens. Oh my god.

Speaker 8 (30:21):
But we also meet sort of at the same time
we meet Gye, we meet Zephyr played by Hessey Harrison,
and she is a bit of a loner. She's a surfer,
she's on her and she's a little bit feisty, and
she really sort of she comes into Tuckers all bit,
but she decides to fight back. Look, this is it's

(30:45):
great fun. I can't say that I you know, I
got very tense watching this film. I could not kind
of wait for it to be over. Sean Byrne does
a good job of kind of, you know, giving you
the shock and the horror and the gore, but sometimes
maybe not when you're expecting it, So it does kind
of keep that tension going. Look, if you're not a
huge fan of shark, you just this might not be

(31:08):
your cup of tea. Yeah, but look it's it's a
really fun, B grade style horror film. It's done pretty well.
If that's your cup of tea.

Speaker 3 (31:18):
Yeah, Look, it certainly sounds like a unique concept feeding people. Yes,
really good. Okay, so that's dangerous animals that's showing in
cinemas at the moment. Materialists is also showing in cinemas.
Don't get them confused or that could be a rude shock.
We will make sure we put all the details for
them on the news talks. He'd be website. Thank you friends,
Eskim after ten o'clock this morning. If you are into

(31:38):
sharks but you don't want to see them eating people,
good news. David Edinburgh's got a new series. It's called
Ocean with David Attenburg. And something tells me there are
a few few sharks and that so we're going to
tell you a little bit more about his latest series
and where you can see it right now. It's called
it A ten.

Speaker 1 (31:54):
Saturday Mornings with Jack team keeping the conversation going through
the weekend with bpewre dot cot once here for high
quality supplements used talks.

Speaker 3 (32:03):
That'd be you know, I have had so many messages
about the future of education this morning. It was when
I say it like that, it sort of sounds like
a really lofty thing.

Speaker 11 (32:11):
But I don't know.

Speaker 3 (32:12):
Maybe it's maybe it's how Sun been born a few
months ago. Maybe it's the kind of the way that
AI is already seeping into everything everywhere in the modern workplace.
But I've really been thinking a lot lately about what
other skills we should actually be teaching people for the future.
Jack says Lyle. I've taken some pride in my limited

(32:34):
ability with French, gained after much academic struggle. But modern
AI translation is absolutely perfect, So then was it worth it? Absolutely? Absolutely,
it was worth it because it developed my brain's academic muscle.
So my prefrontal cortex is probably more crinkly than the
youth's brain will ever be. Yes says Lyle. I'm a

(32:56):
boomer and proud ninety two ninety two if you want
to send us a message like Lyle did this morning.
That's the thing. I agree. I think there is still value.
We just need to look at We need to look
at the skills in a kind of broader context. So
it's not necessarily the French that you're learning. It's all
of the it's all of the subsequent skills that you
learn through that process and the ways that it benefits

(33:18):
your brain. That is the real value. So thank you
for that mile. It is eleven to ten on newstalks.
He'd be Nicky works as our cook and she is
alive from Mystery Creek. In Field Days the final lay
of Field Days twenty twenty five, Nikki.

Speaker 12 (33:33):
Yes, the final day. Yes, it's day four and I'm
feeling it. Oh my goodness. You know why I'm feeling
it most though, Jack.

Speaker 3 (33:40):
Because the food's good.

Speaker 4 (33:41):
Because well the food is good.

Speaker 12 (33:43):
Yes enough, isn't an awful lot of protein. But I've
got to tell you, farmers get.

Speaker 3 (33:47):
Up very early, Yes, very early they do.

Speaker 12 (33:49):
So we all sort of, you know, slide into the
muddy car parks at about six thirty am in the morning.
I make my way up to the cross sleigh and
for Red barbecues stand and then I cook meat all day.
Farmers they most shows that you go through. You know,
it doesn't really warm up until about ten or eleven.
Here you are going for it from about seven am.

Speaker 4 (34:07):
It's hilarious.

Speaker 12 (34:08):
The show doesn't even start to late. Farmers. They honestly,
they are a hardy group. I've got to tell you, Yes,
it's been amazing.

Speaker 3 (34:15):
What have been your kind of foody highlights from a
consumer's perspective?

Speaker 8 (34:18):
Foody highlights?

Speaker 10 (34:19):
Look, I popped down.

Speaker 12 (34:20):
I finally got a little bit of time off yesterday
and I had a look down at the pantry and
so down there what I discovered were two fantastic product
I mean, there's loads of great products down there, but
the ones I want to talk about is a beautiful
hot sauce company from Coramander called Uncle Dunles.

Speaker 7 (34:36):
I love the name.

Speaker 3 (34:37):
They do a wood fired hot sauce.

Speaker 8 (34:39):
So they use tea tree yet cheeky.

Speaker 12 (34:42):
It takes three days to make the sauce, so it's
absolutely beautiful, it's rich. It's when they say a hot sauce,
it's really hot. They also do a mild sauce. But honestly,
I can really recommend that, and the other one at
the other sort of end of the spectrum was a
beautiful chocolate ear from out Moody Wi Wai called pretty Fancy,
And they have all these boxes of bond bonds.

Speaker 2 (35:05):
They're really expensive.

Speaker 12 (35:06):
I'mble because I scoffed them. You're supposed to savor them.
But they were also really really fantastic, So that's been great. Yeah,
So we've been introducing the puns is down here that
infra red barbecues, which are kind of gas that then
uses a lot less gas because it fires up in
for red. So I've been cooking meat meat supplied by
the Bethlehem Butchery. And I don't know if we've got
time this morning, but I've been making a cracking Korean

(35:29):
beef out of rump steak, which is incredibly economical.

Speaker 3 (35:33):
So have we got time to right?

Speaker 7 (35:36):
I love rump steak.

Speaker 12 (35:37):
I think rump is a great cut, does a lot
of work on the beast if you like, so listen
to me talking like a farmer.

Speaker 8 (35:43):
So it's really tasty.

Speaker 12 (35:45):
It's not your tenderest cut, but I think it's.

Speaker 7 (35:46):
The best one.

Speaker 12 (35:47):
So what I do is in a big bowl, I
stew together three tablespoons of castor sugar. Korean beef is sweet,
but it's also salty, so six tablespoons of dark soy sauce,
two tablespoons of vegetable oil, two tablespoons of sesama oil,
a really big squeeze of juicy orange lemon juice, or
you can use some rice wine vinegar, about two tablespoons.

(36:08):
You need that to sort of cut through the rich
cut through the richness. Good tablespoon of fresh grated ginger,
lots of garlic, and then I use about three or
four cloves and I grate that into there, and then
take your big rump steak. And the great thing about
going to a butcher jack is that it'll tend to
be a much thicker, well aged cut than you might
get at a supermarket, which is kind of you know,

(36:31):
it's pretty quick from farm. The plastic packaging, you know,
that's okay too, that has its place, perhaps, but your
butcher's honestly beautiful thick cut. I cut them into about
point five mill point five centimeter strips, nice and thin.
Throw it on a hot barbecue with some spring onions.
You just cook it, you know, thirty seconds forty five,

(36:52):
give it a quick flip and then serve it with
some rice, maybe sprinkle it with some sesame seeds, or
serve it in a big fluffy white bun. Absolutely gorgeous.
And I've been knocking that out and people as well
as hawk bellley as well as sort of chicken thighs
as well, and honestly, some days in fact after day twoks,
we've been cooking these pork bellys, which I adore pork belly.

Speaker 2 (37:13):
But you can only have so much.

Speaker 4 (37:15):
And I had too much.

Speaker 13 (37:17):
And I remember on the.

Speaker 12 (37:18):
Way back to my Airbnb down here thinking, oh dear,
if I had an accident now and they did a
DNA on me, I'm probably more poor scene than human.

Speaker 14 (37:25):
But there you go.

Speaker 12 (37:26):
But no, it's great fun. Look, today's the last day
and it's beautiful today the rain has stopped. It's muddy,
and it's great and it's a fantastic show.

Speaker 3 (37:34):
It really is superb Well, we will let you get
back to the hot plate. Thank you so much. Nikki
will make sure that recipe for Nicky's Korean beef is
up on the news talks 'b websites. Hands like she's
had a fantastic day at field days or time at
field days, so if you're there today, make sure you
soak it up and go and visit her stand as well.
Seven to ten on News talks 'B.

Speaker 1 (37:53):
Giving you the inside scoop on all you need to
know Saturday mornings with Jack dam and Vpewer dot co
dot nz for high quality supplements News talks 'B.

Speaker 3 (38:02):
It's almost news time, so after the news this morning,
and I make sure I bing you some more of
your feedback this morning on the future of education. David
has sent us a really good note to say, Jack,
what is essential to the future of education are the arts.
The arts teach us creativity and all else that is
uniquely human. Very good point, David, appreciate that. Ninety two
to ninety two if you want to send us a message,

(38:24):
and on the subject of the arts, of course, right
after the ten o'clock news this morning. Cannot wait for
this key we theater and screen legend. Allison Quigan's going
to be with us, Sir Roger Hall's got a brand
new play called End of Summertime. Allison is in charge,
so she's going to tell us all about End of
Summertime very soon. As well as that our personal finance
expert has just done a bit of a crazy experiment,

(38:46):
maybe not that crazy. He has tried living on nothing
but the pension for a week, so he's not of
retirement age, but he just wanted to see what it
was like living on nothing but the pension for a week.
So he's going to be with us after ten o'clock
to tell us about that. News is next, though it
is almost ten o'clock. I'm Jack Taymee. It's Saturday and morning.
This is Newstalk zed Vey.

Speaker 1 (39:17):
A cracking way to start your Saturday. Saturday mornings with
Jack Day and bpure dot co dot inzead for high
quality supplements. News Talks B Good Morning.

Speaker 3 (39:49):
You're with Jacktaime on News Talks V through the midday today.
Queen of the Stage Ellison Quigan is a mainstay in
New Zealand's performing arts scene. You will have seen her
all sorts of things over the years, in all sorts
of theater productions, many of which she has written herself.
You might have seen he in Shortened Street playing fan
favorite Yvonne Jefferies, and Allison is back to her theatrical

(40:11):
ways directing a brand new production by Sir Roger Hall
called End of summertime and and what is a great
privilege for us. Allison is here in the studio with
us this morning. Kelder, welcome to the show. It is
so good to see you and thank you for being here.
So tell us about End of Summertime.

Speaker 15 (40:28):
End of Summertime is a play by Roger Hall which
is part of a trilogy that he wrote. The first
one was called Come On Black, and then it was
You've got to be Joking And Dicky Hart is the
is the only character in it. Actually that's not true.
There are many, many characters, and our wonderful actor Andy
Granger is playing all of the characters right. And so
this particular time and Dickie Hart has gone from being

(40:50):
a great farmer in Taranaki and then he goes to Wellington,
goes from the farm to the city. And now his
wife Glinda has says, right where, off to Auckland, the
place he doesn't want to live in any time of
his life. Auckland is full of all these people. Now
all they talk about is money, The traffic is terrible,
all of those things. And so he arrives curmudgeonly and

(41:12):
through the play he falls in love with Auckland.

Speaker 3 (41:16):
Wow, Okay.

Speaker 15 (41:17):
To me, that's the wonderful thing about Auckland is Auckland
people are terrible at selling their own city. This is true,
and so when they arrived they say, oh, sir, about
that with the traffic, I'm sure it's awful for you.
But actually, when I arrived here after several times of
coming to live here, and I came with my family
to do Shortland Street in two thousand and four, people
said you'll hate it. And when I arrived here, we

(41:38):
loved it. The first weekend, Wow, because it's impressive. Well,
it's because of the water is amazing, the volcanoes are amazing,
the city is gorgeous, and you survive by the kindness
of strangers, and that's what Auckland's about it.

Speaker 3 (41:51):
It's funny you say that because I'm born and raised
in christ Church and we're like all cards on the table.
Am still a parochial Cantaprian. And yeah, so when I
grew up, we always love beating Auckland and everything and
all kinds of worsted it out. And then when I
came and moved Auckland, I do think, well, you know,
you have two unique harbors, a city built around the water.

(42:14):
You have these conical volcanoes sticking up everywhere, which gives
it the most unique landscape. You've got the White Targeting Ranges,
which is this incredible backbone of native bush. You have
more Pacific people than any other place in the world.
It's really more salmon and people, more Tongan people than
in Sarmour or tong It's really a Pacific capital exactly.

(42:34):
You know, there are some upsides to be in Auckland
as well. So I mean, people will hear the name
Dickie Hart and immediately be smiling because that is a
Sir Roger Hall classic. But what is it about Sir
Roger's plays that you think connect with people in the
way they do.

Speaker 15 (42:49):
It's because he understands his audience. He's been telling this
story of this particular generation for fifty years. Yeah, and
he is very loyal to them, and they are very
loyal to him. But he is a great observationist. He
will as he knows these people so so well. And
he because he's a great comedic writer and a tragedyan writer,

(43:11):
because in order to tell comedy you need to understand tragedy,
and so he understands the pitfalls of their lives, the
the extraordinary things in their ordinary lives, and that's that's
us all over. And so he he is, he is
a he's a great storyteller of this country.

Speaker 3 (43:31):
Yeah, and his players are just so much fun. I've
been to heaps of Roger Hall plays over the years,
and you always get a like Bally laugh after belly
laugh after Bally laugh, you know it is. It always
kind of delivers in that sense, I suppose. So tell
us about your role in directing this and how that
compares to your other theatrical roles over the years, because

(43:52):
you write, you perform, and you direct, yes, and produce everything.

Speaker 15 (43:58):
Well, after this long and the business, of course, you've
done it. I've swept the stage, and I've been on
the board. You know, it's you run the gamut. And
I started directing his plays in the late eighties when
I took over Center Point Theater and Palms to North
And because the Rogers plays need to be in the program,
because you know, you'll bring in that audience and that
audience will sustain everybody everything else in the program. And

(44:20):
so yes, I've been telling his stories right from there.
I mean, this particular one is a solo show.

Speaker 7 (44:25):
Right.

Speaker 15 (44:25):
And so as a director for a solo actor, you're
actually trying to create all the other characters with the
actor and obviously with the writer, and so it is
a case of making sure that he's he can get
from A to B to C to D all of
that so he can get through to the end of
the play. So there's a practical part of understanding how
solo show works, but also reassuring and just loving what

(44:49):
this other person can bring to the play. It's well interpretation.

Speaker 3 (44:52):
So does how does that complexity with a one person
play compare to a play that has more moving parts
and more actors.

Speaker 15 (45:00):
Well, the complexity is that you're intensely involved with the
with the one actor, and when when you're directing a
lot of people, every single person has a different requirement.
You know, some people you provoke, some people you tease out,
some people you just leave alone. But all the time
you're as a director, you're the person who's in the
middle of the theater going I can't hear you, or

(45:25):
you know you're You're you're using the time to be
the audience for that particular part of the reversal. And
as you get further and further into the play. You're
getting further and further away from the actors. I said,
to react to somebody the other day, I said, when
you direct at the first there's only a piece of
masking take between you and the actor, right, and then

(45:46):
when you go into the theater there's several rows of
seats and when the audience comes in, you're in the
back row.

Speaker 16 (45:51):
Yeah.

Speaker 8 (45:51):
Right, so you you first step all hands on.

Speaker 15 (45:54):
Yeah's constantly.

Speaker 1 (45:56):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (45:56):
So you mentioned Center Point. You were artistic director for
eighteen years. I was, that's amazing. So how to talk
to us about the kind of significance of that place
for you.

Speaker 15 (46:05):
I was born in Palmerston North and I went back
because I had a twenty month old baby and I
was off at a job basically that was that I'd
worked there before, but the idea.

Speaker 8 (46:15):
Of going back to.

Speaker 3 (46:15):
Palston North was was one of those oh no.

Speaker 15 (46:19):
And then of course I was offered the job and
it was brilliant, and because it taught me how to dream,
because it taught me how to read an audience. I
had a marketing manager eventually, and there was only four
of us running the theater, so everyone was a manager.
And so he sort of said he didn't. He helped
me do a strategic plan, which taught me how to

(46:40):
dream and taught me how to do the things that
meant the most to me and therefore the audience.

Speaker 16 (46:47):
And so it was.

Speaker 15 (46:48):
He was great at teaching me how to do that.
He was very young, yeah, for straight out of university.
But he said, I'm good at this, and I thought, fine, yeah,
I'm hopeless.

Speaker 3 (46:56):
Am I right in thinking it is a five Go
Bamian Palmi was a five Go Barmian Parmi. You wrote, yeah,
I mean we didn't.

Speaker 15 (47:03):
We hadn't written the play.

Speaker 3 (47:04):
I wrote the title. Can see that the title play
key role.

Speaker 15 (47:09):
You mentioned Ross Gumbli before Ross Gumbley was. And so
he and I worked together and we said, okay, we'll
write a surprise Christmas show, right, and then somebody said,
oh god, the actors go crazy go Bami when they're
living in Parmi and we went, oh, my god, did
you see that thing?

Speaker 3 (47:23):
Famous five?

Speaker 15 (47:24):
And so it was five Go Bami and Parmi and
we wrote the title and then people rang up and
said what you got on for Christmas? And we went, oh,
the show was called five Go Bami and Parmi. And
we said, and they said, we know exactly what that's
we go.

Speaker 3 (47:37):
What is it about?

Speaker 15 (47:38):
So they told us, oh, it's about the Famous Five.
It's during the Second World and they sold they solved
a crime.

Speaker 3 (47:44):
Good, good done. That's written then, I should say for
our audience. Ross Gumbli was, of course the director of
the Court Theater in christ Church, which is where I
grew up, and so I used to absolutely love going
and going to the Court Theater and seeing Ross Gumbley's
performances and plays as well. So I know you and
Ross have worked so closely together over the years. I
also wanted to ask you about short and Street. I
hope that's okay. Yes, you live on on Shorten Street.

(48:06):
It was a firm fan favorite, and interestingly, you had
a younger love interest, Ben for several years. I think
it was several years, right, it was, I recall being yeah, okay, anyway,
so Ben was played by the one of the drama
teachers at my high school, which I just wanted to
say to you. I cannot tell you how much joy

(48:28):
that gave the students of casting in high school to
see you and Ben's fledgling relationship on screen every night
at seven o'clock. Just what an absolute joy that was.
But do people still come up to you and ask
about Yvonne every day? Really every day? Amazing?

Speaker 15 (48:42):
It is, It is amazing. But usually they say, I
know you, I know you don't where did you go
to school?

Speaker 3 (48:47):
And I'm oh, here we go?

Speaker 15 (48:49):
Is this going to take It's worse when you're having
a smear test. That's the and I don't have to
have those anymore, thank heavens.

Speaker 11 (48:56):
But yeah, it is.

Speaker 15 (48:57):
It is the times where somebody you just know this
is going to be a long conversation. So sometimes I
cut to the chase and say Shortland Street and they go, oh,
He's like, I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry to know.

Speaker 3 (49:06):
Oh no, I'm glad that you remember it.

Speaker 8 (49:08):
I'm glad you watch.

Speaker 3 (49:09):
Yeah. Yeah, it's funny to kind of think about the
place of Shorten Street. You know, in this day and
age where three episodes a week now three three episodes
a week, do you have concern about the kind of
the pathways for New Zealand writers and performers given the
state of the industry and the state of the kind
of economy at the moment.

Speaker 8 (49:24):
Of course I do.

Speaker 15 (49:25):
I mean, I think that it is really important that
we tell our stories, and we need to do it
with our voices, with our writers, with our concerns and
our values, because the real problem is that we could
actually only hear American vowels, consonants, accents on our screens,
and that is a real problem because then we lose

(49:46):
our identity. What theater does, what film and television does,
is that reaffirms who we are. And that's why it's
really really important in education as well that arts are
there as part of part of our education.

Speaker 3 (49:59):
That's such a valuable message. Okay, the show is accessible,
So you've got cheaper tickets for seniors and for under thirties. Yes,
you've got New Zealand sign leag, good interpreters, audio described performances.
So how are you trying to adapt and trying to
bring in more people to live theater?

Speaker 15 (50:14):
I think theater will always survive because we need to
see things as a group, We need to see it
as a community. We laugh louder, we cry deeper when
we see something together because that's when we know we're
not alone. Because when COVID taught us a lot of
things about being isolated, and a theater actually teaches us
about being a community.

Speaker 3 (50:35):
It's a collective experience.

Speaker 15 (50:36):
Absolutely. You laugh with something with a whole room full
of people and you go, it wasn't just me, Oh
my god, that is so you. And then if you
watch the same thing at home on your couch, then
you go, oh.

Speaker 8 (50:50):
That's nice.

Speaker 15 (50:51):
But when you laugh together, you break the seating, you know.
And that's when I worked at Mangoi Arts Center. That's
what I learned there was that when they really enjoy
in the South Aukland, they love something, they throw themselves
physically at the show and love it to that map,
to that extent, and that's what that's.

Speaker 2 (51:11):
Who we are.

Speaker 3 (51:12):
Fantastic, Hey, thank you so much for being here. We
really appreciate it all the very best with the end
of summertime and you can't wait to see it. Great
Thanks Allison. That's Allison Quigan. She's directing End of Summertime.
Tickets are available at ATC dot co dot nzet ATC
for Auckland Theater Company. We'll make sure we've got all
the details up on the news Talks EDB website.

Speaker 1 (51:34):
Start your weekend off in style. Saturday Mornings with Jack
Day and Vpewer dot co dot inset for high quality
supplements US Talks.

Speaker 3 (51:42):
EDB twenty two past ten on news TALKSZB. Thank you
so much for all of your messages. How about this
Shawn Edwards Brown, My old drama teacher was Ben from
Shorten Street who had the affair with Yvonne. He was
listening and says good a so how I just I
love New Zealand Day ninety two ninety two. If you
want to send us a message Giday Sean, thanks for listening,

(52:03):
Jacketewstalks eDV dot co dot inzet is. The email is
Jack Allison is one hundred percent right and she's still
so great both as a personality and as a content creator.
And couldn't agree more when it comes to the importance
of creating local contents. As Harry, it is twenty two
past ten, which means it's time to get your screen
time picks for this weekend. Three fantastic shows to watch

(52:24):
your stream at home Tara Awards our screen time expert
Get Atara. Good morning, Okay, let's kick things off with
the latest David Attenborough. Tell us about Ocean with David
Attenborough on Disney Plus.

Speaker 17 (52:36):
Yeah, this is to David A. Edinburgh's latest Nature Show,
and it's a film rather than a series. It's on
Disney Plus, but it's also screening in cinemas at the moment,
and it's about the importance of the ocean to our planet.
And the film was released on David Attenborough's ninety ninth birthday,
so he's looking back over the last century to consider
what we've learned about the ocean, the discoveries that we've made,

(52:59):
the depth that we have literally reached, all of which
have happened in relatively recent times and certainly in his
own lifetime. And it's such a powerful documentary because it
just pulls you in with this incredible photography. It's so
stunning to watch. The colors are really vibrant, the storytelling
is so good, as you would expect with David Edinburgh.
And then it comes to an unavoidable part, which is

(53:22):
that we are ruining the ocean with things like deep
sea trawling and industrial overfishing. We're killing the ocean and
ruining those ecosystems. And it's a pretty brutal, confronting message.
But what's important here is that David Attenborough leaves us
with a message of hope and that if we leave
the ocean alone. If we protect more areas, they will

(53:42):
regenerate and thrive and those ecosystems will rebuild, and how
important that is to the rest of the health of
the planet. So really, really powerful documentary. I really recommend it.
It's so beautiful to watch. And of course Sir David
Edinburgh in his one hundredth year, such a treasure and
this is just so beautifully done.

Speaker 3 (54:01):
Fantastic. Yeah, I can't wait to see that. So that's
on Disney Plus Ocean with David Attinborough. On Netflix, titan
the Ocean Head Disaster.

Speaker 17 (54:11):
Yeah, this is a new Netflix documentary about the twenty
twenty three disaster involving the ocean Gate submersible, which I'm
sure people will remember was traveling down to the bottom
of the Atlantic to see the wreck of the Titanic
when it imploded and killed the five people on board.
And this documentary looks at the events leading up to
the implosion, how the submersible was made, the warning signs

(54:32):
that were there that things could go wrong, and it
particularly looks at Stockton Rush, who was the wealthy businessman
whose dream was to become world famous by offering tourist
trips to down to the Titanic and who built the submersible,
and he does not come out of this well, but
it talks to a lot of employees and whistleblowers who
had left the company or were fired when they raise concerns.

(54:55):
There's a lot of behind the scenes footage as well,
which takes us into the room when they were building
that technology. And so this does answer a lot of
questions about what went on and how this was allowed
to happen, and it's story that has captured people's attention
since twenty twenty three. This only came to Netflix a
couple of days ago and it's already sitting in the
number one position in New Zealand. So you know, if

(55:18):
you do want to know more about it and understand
what happened, this documentary is a great place to start.

Speaker 3 (55:22):
Nice That's titan the Ocean Head Disaster. It's on Netflix
and also on Netflix Paris Has Fallen.

Speaker 17 (55:29):
Yeah, this is an action packed TV series. It's actually
a spin off of the Has Fallen series of movies
that starred Gered Butler. He's not in this, but this
is a thriller about a protection officer and an MI
six agent who team up after a terrorist attack in
Paris and they have to try and stop another bigger
attack from taking place. And if you want a realistic

(55:52):
political thriller, this isn't it. This is all about the
action and the chases and the stunts. It's quite violent,
but it moves along at a great pace. They are
running through France trying.

Speaker 2 (56:03):
To save the world.

Speaker 17 (56:04):
I expect this to get sillier, a bit more far
fetched as it goes along, but you know, it's one
of those shows.

Speaker 2 (56:10):
You could put on.

Speaker 17 (56:10):
You won't have to think about it and it will
just take you along for the ride.

Speaker 18 (56:13):
Ah.

Speaker 3 (56:14):
How good? All right, thanks so much, Tara. So that
is Paris has fallen. That's on Netflix. Titan the Ocean
Head Disaster is also on Netflix, and Ocean with David
Attenboough is on Disney Plus. We'll make sure all of
those shows are up on the Newstalk's he'db website as well.
Before eleven o'clock, our personal finance experts set himself a
challenge with no notice, so he couldn't prepare, couldn't go

(56:34):
and stop the shelves beforehand. He decided to see what
it would be like living on nothing but the pension
for a week now. There were some caveats. Okay, so
he didn't include his mortgage payment because I think they
say the idea with the pension is that will support
you if you're not paying a mortgage. But he's going
to tell us about the experiment and what he learned
and doing that personally. Before eleven o'clock, it's just coming

(56:55):
up to ten thirty on Newstalks 'DB.

Speaker 1 (57:01):
Getting your weekends started. It's Saturday Morning with Jack Team
on News Story.

Speaker 3 (57:36):
This song is called Dreams and it's by a group
called King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, which I just
feel like is a fun name to say, King Gizzard
and the Lizard Wizard, not to be confused with confused
with King Lizard and the Wizard Gizzard or King Lizard
and the Wizard Gizzard. Definitely King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard,

(57:58):
not remotely confusing. It's been fifteen years now that King
Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard have been making music. To
get that, and you're not going to be able to
guess how many albums they have created in that time. Okay,
it is enough to rival the releases of the Marvel
Comics Universe twenty seven albums. Is that madness crazy a

(58:22):
So they're assies notorious for experimenting with a wide range
of genres and they've certainly done that. So they just
released their twenty seventh album. It's called Phantom Island. It's
out now and we're gonna have a bit more of
a listen before midday today. Our music reviewer Estelle will
be in as well to tell us a little bit
more about King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard and give

(58:42):
us her thoughts on the album as a whole. Thank
you so much for your feedback. I've had gazillions of
messages and flip me a note to say, Jack, I
was at a targo when Sir Roger Hall was teaching playwriting.
You would pass him in the corridor and there would
be an amused smile on his face. It was as
if he could see right through you. Definitely an observationalist
in such a gentle manner. His plays as a commentary

(59:03):
on Kiwi middle class culture have enabled us to laugh
at ourselves and be less self conscious about our foibles. Yeah,
I think it's a really good way of describing them.
Next year, and he is really really good at at
letting us laugh at ourselves. I think it's a good
way to think about it. Regarding education, Jack, we should

(59:23):
be teaching We should not be teaching more. We should
be teaching rather more people how to feed themselves, says Michael,
I reckon, this is fundamental when it comes to an education.
So much reliance is on supermarkets or on takeaways, on
getting food to our doors. I think actually teaching people
some core life skills should be one of the fundamental
things we focus on when it comes to the education

(59:46):
of the future. Yep, I don't disagree with you on
that one. And it turns out I'm not the only
one who had to battle away and learning tea line
shorthand back in the day, the sleepless nights Jack, that
I spent trying to pass my tea line exam. Oh
put me in a cold sweat. We had to reach
ninety words a minute. See, I only had to pass
eighty words a minute to get agree. You had to
do ninety words a minute. It took a lot of effort,

(01:00:07):
but we did get there in the end. Thank you
for that. Ninety two to ninety two. If you want
to send us a text message this morning, I'll get
tomorrow your feedback very shortly. Next up, though, our tech
spurt is in and a big change is coming to
Apple products that is going to completely change the way
that call screening is done. So when you call people
in the future, when you dial them up, you're going

(01:00:29):
to have to say exactly why you're calling them, and
when the person you're calling gets the notification, they're going
to know why you've dialed them up. So what's it
going to mean? Our textbot with his thoughts very shortly.

Speaker 1 (01:00:43):
Putting the tough questions to the newspeakers the mic asking.

Speaker 19 (01:00:46):
BREAKFA interesting stats on our public service workforces down three
point one percent.

Speaker 8 (01:00:50):
What's that meaning jobs?

Speaker 3 (01:00:51):
Well, two thousand are gone, but quarterly we now have
a zero point four percent increase.

Speaker 7 (01:00:55):
Cameron Bagri Independent economists with that.

Speaker 19 (01:00:58):
Old sort of adage about this lies as damn laws
and statistics now survive. We're locker Dublin perst and our
expenses are up three point one percent. That doesn't persignify
too much to the typening in regard to what's going on,
So there might be a little bit of hodgpodging. There's
a lot of writers about the government typening the belt,
but all the savings are backloaded to the structural gift,
so it's still deteriorating. Over the coming twelve months.

Speaker 6 (01:01:19):
It's going to get wet back Monday from six am
the Mike Hosking Breakfast with Mayley's Real Estate News Talk zed.

Speaker 3 (01:01:25):
B twenty four two ten on News Talk s ed B.
Disney and Universal are suing an AI company for the
video generation technology that it has introduced. So basically, if
you want to create your own scene, say starring Homer
Simpson or a Star Wars character, well there is this
AI generator called mid Journey that can do just that,

(01:01:48):
but for how long. Paul Stenhouse is a texpert, he's
with us this morning.

Speaker 16 (01:01:52):
Hey Paul, Hey, yeah, no, this is this is causing
issues in Hollywood, Jack because the people who create this stuff,
and let's be honest, the people who own this stuff, yeah,
don't particularly like it that you can just say, make
Homo Simpson do x, or make me a Star Wars character,
or have a minion go down a slide and eat

(01:02:13):
an ice cream. You know, like you can do any
of these things, and it's getting so good that it
is kind of indistinguishable from the actual content that these
people create.

Speaker 11 (01:02:23):
And you know, we pay for and pay to see and.

Speaker 16 (01:02:26):
Yeah, they do images, they do video, and I have
to say so, they've Disney Universal have teamed up to
sue them.

Speaker 3 (01:02:33):
The suit hit court this week and.

Speaker 16 (01:02:36):
The studios called it a virtual vending machine, this company
in the Journey and said it as a bottomless pit
of plagiarism, which is a fantastic I don't know I
came up with that, because that's a great pace, a
bottomless pit of plagiarism. But all these AI companies have
been using copyrighted material right and they've been doing it
for the chat GPTs of the world too when it

(01:02:58):
comes to text content, and they're doing all of this
under we're gonna get geeky. The copyright kind of laws
have a thing called fair use, and so they're saying, wow,
this is fair use.

Speaker 3 (01:03:09):
And what this lawsuit basically says is is not.

Speaker 16 (01:03:13):
The lawsuit wants damages of one hundred and fifty thousand
dollars per infringement.

Speaker 4 (01:03:17):
Wow.

Speaker 16 (01:03:18):
So when you look at the list in the court
in the suit, it's probably going to be twenty million
US dollars trying to get in damages. And here's the
thing they really want is the injunction from the judge
that would immediately stop their operations and stop this stuff
from happening. So this is going to be one of
these cases we're starting to see the effects of AI
coming to the quote unquote real world. This one is

(01:03:40):
going to be a big kind of scene setter for
where we can go with image and video generation moving forward.

Speaker 3 (01:03:48):
Yeah, a scene ceter and a precedencetera. I would think,
kay when it comes to, you know, the kind of
tensions with these big companies that oversee lots of creative work.
Apple has announced various upgrades for all of its products,
but bringing in call screening. Now, I thought we already
had call screening, but this is a call screening that
puts the onus on the call. It does.

Speaker 16 (01:04:08):
So people didn't like it when caller ID first came
out and they said, what, it's a breach.

Speaker 4 (01:04:13):
In my place.

Speaker 16 (01:04:14):
I don't want to I don't want to have to. Well, now, yeah,
you're going to have to say why are you calling?

Speaker 10 (01:04:19):
Why are you calling me is the central question for this.

Speaker 16 (01:04:22):
So you can set your phone up in this new
version so that it will ask that question, and then
you will need to say why you're calling, and if
you're not interested, you're going to ignore the call. Wow, telemarketers,
I don't think they're going to like this. Are they
the cold calling salespeople?

Speaker 1 (01:04:38):
They're not going to like that.

Speaker 7 (01:04:39):
The I don't know.

Speaker 16 (01:04:40):
I guess the church goers. They still knock on your
front door, don't they. So I guess they're fine. But no,
this is a this is a real problem in the US.
We've got a real issue with spam calls, and this
I think is a direct.

Speaker 5 (01:04:53):
Relution for that.

Speaker 16 (01:04:54):
Yeah. I mean I used to be one of these
people that would answer every phone call that came to
my phone, and now I've turned into one of those
people that has it on silent constantly, and you know,
I never pick it up because I'm just going to
get some robo call that's telling me that my car
tolls haven't been paid, and Jack, I don't even own
a car. Yeah, So so you know, this is this
is the sort of thing that is going to be

(01:05:15):
really helpful.

Speaker 3 (01:05:16):
So I can see real utility when you think about
it in the context of telemarketers. But what about if
you're just like messaging your friends or calling your friends
or someone in your contacts, does that does it. Do
you have to describe why you're calling them?

Speaker 16 (01:05:30):
Yeah, I think I'm assuming it's going to be. They
haven't given all the details, but I'm assuming there will
be settings. I will guess that because you can even
do things at the moment, like if you call twice
in the same thirty second yehs overrides you do not disturb.
I have a feeling they're going to be able. You're
going to be able to do some toggling here. But
this is in this next version of iOS now named
iOS twenty six.

Speaker 10 (01:05:52):
That's the future year.

Speaker 16 (01:05:54):
Remember they jumped it up so that it actually now
aligns with the calendar, which.

Speaker 3 (01:05:57):
Because it was iOS eighteen or something previously.

Speaker 5 (01:06:00):
Yeah.

Speaker 16 (01:06:00):
Yeah, so this is the this is the reversioning and
this will be in that So it's going to be
a wee while away. But interesting to see exactly how
they do rule it out, because at that point, maybe
if you have to explain why you're calling, just send
a text.

Speaker 3 (01:06:12):
Yeah, yeah, which I'd prefer, no totally. Another big announcement
from Apple at that same conference is that Car Play,
So the system that you use when you plug your
Apple phone into your car, that's going to be much
more customizable for different cars.

Speaker 16 (01:06:28):
Yeah, so this is a really interesting one because a
lot of car makers have integrated with Android Auto or
car Play and often had their own system as well,
and so there's always kind of been it's never felt
very connected between the two. Right, You've got your kind
of dash over here on one side, and then you've
got the main screen sort of in the middle with

(01:06:48):
your car Play or Android Auto.

Speaker 11 (01:06:51):
But Apple is now allowing car.

Speaker 16 (01:06:54):
Makers to deeply integrate with it, and it goes both ways.
So they've teamed up with Aston Martin so everyone listening
will be able to get this feature as soon as
it launches, and they've collaborate to make it super integrated
so that on your main screen you'll be able to
do things like you can in your Tesla, like control
the air and control the temperature and the driving preferences

(01:07:18):
of your car. But also you'll be able to bring
widgets from your phone, like your music and things like
that directly onto your dash, so beside your speedometer, which
is kind of cool. But it's the type of thing
like a lot of these cars have had, but you've
had to use their proprietary software. So this kind of
gives you another option now, but it will have to

(01:07:40):
be deeply, deeply kind of integrated, and I think Apple
is going to be pretty particular. I imagine with who
they work with, which is probably where they started with
Aston Martin.

Speaker 3 (01:07:48):
Yes, true, that thanks so much, Paul, appreciate your time
as always. That is our texpert, Paul Stenhouse. Before eleven,
we're in the gardener. Next, our personal finance expert has
undertaken an experiment. He wanted to see just how tough
it would be for him as a non retired person
living on nothing but the pension for all week.

Speaker 1 (01:08:07):
No bitter wait to kick off your weekend. Then with
Jack Saturday Mornings with Jack Day and befew it dot
co dot Nz for high quality supplements used talk.

Speaker 3 (01:08:15):
There'd be quarter to eleven on news talks. He'd b
ed McKnight from Opie's Partners is with us this morning. Hey, Ed,
great to be here.

Speaker 1 (01:08:24):
Jack.

Speaker 3 (01:08:24):
You have come up with a fantastic idea for a challenge.
I don't envy you, but give us the details.

Speaker 18 (01:08:30):
Well, one of the big questions that a lot of
New Zealanders worry about, it is a lot of anxiety
around this is can you actually live on the New
Zealand superannuation because sometimes you read news articles that say
absolutely not, it's impossible, and other times you hear actually,
some people are doing okay. So the challenge that I've
come up with is could I live on New Zealand

(01:08:52):
Super for a week so that I can find out
that answer for myself? Is it enough for me? So
that's about five hundred and thirty nine dollars if you're
a single person, or eight hundred and twenty eight dollars
a week if you are a couple. Now, if you
are to do this challenge, there are there's some good news.
If you own your own home and you're currently paying
your mortgage, hopefully that will be gone by the time

(01:09:13):
you retire, so you don't have to count that. And
as I discovered, some of your commuting costs really start
to add up. So the challenge started and I called
up my friend Andrew and I said, come on, we're
going to try this for a week, and with no planning,
no preparation, we just started tomorrow. And I tell you what, Jack,

(01:09:34):
it does make you really conscious of what you spend.
So of my five hundred and thirty eight dollars a week,
my daily parking in the city was four percent of
my pension is paid.

Speaker 3 (01:09:44):
Oh wow, yeah, of course, and that's every day. So
if you're going into work over the space of a week,
you've got twenty percent of your pay gone.

Speaker 2 (01:09:53):
Yeah.

Speaker 18 (01:09:53):
Now, hopefully, if you're going to be retired, you're not
going to have to worry about that, so you can,
you know, you can be a little bit nice to yourself.
But I realized that even though I'm having porridge in
the morning, that was still costing five dollars a day,
and I.

Speaker 11 (01:10:06):
Was like, wow, no, no, no break.

Speaker 3 (01:10:10):
Yeah right, Oh my gosh.

Speaker 18 (01:10:12):
So my friend Andrew, on the first day of the challenge,
he said, look, I'm going to I'm going to be
really money smart and I'm just going to skip lunch
in order to save money. And then by the time
he gets to four o'clock he is two hungry, so
he goes out and buys it. But what that made
me realize, Jack, is you sometimes read about people skipping
meals and you think, do people really do that? And

(01:10:34):
the day one of Andrew just trying to live on
the pinch at his pay and they're already getting into
skipping meals, I was like, Wow, this is the reality
filling up your car that also will scat it Jesus
out if you're that offer coss over one hundred dollars.
And so what this challenge made me realize is if
you are going to live on enzet super you do

(01:10:54):
need to be a really good planner. You're probably not
filling out pr car every single week, You're probably not
going on their road trips. And the thing that this
also taught me is that if I was to just
live on the pension, I'd need to live a really
really simple life, you know, not doing too many things
because the cost these days really really add up.

Speaker 4 (01:11:15):
Yeah.

Speaker 18 (01:11:17):
The reason I like this is that there is a
lot of anxiety around retiring and people think, here's the
pension enough, So I reckon people should give it a go.
Because if you find you can live on super great
happy you don't have to worry about your retirement, and
if you can't, maybe this will skw you into doing
something about it.

Speaker 5 (01:11:33):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:11:34):
I just think it's such a valuable kind of exercise
for people who are approaching retirement and want to see
in real terms how they would get by, and probably
in some cases a bit of a you know, a
bit of a lightning rod, a bit of a kickup
the backside to say, you know what, do what you
can now to supplement So but if that's not going

(01:11:56):
to be enough, and.

Speaker 18 (01:11:58):
Well, my question for you, Jack is are you going
to give it a go?

Speaker 5 (01:12:01):
Now?

Speaker 3 (01:12:02):
You know what I reckon, it's going to be two
tricky yeed And I swear I'm not just saying that
only because hopefully when I'm retired, I won't have two
little mouths to be feeding. And how mortgage payments are
significant as well, so you know, I could take that
out of things. But yeah, maybe I could come up

(01:12:22):
with a version of it where at the very least
I was forced to confront some of that kind of
discretionary spending like buying my lunch that perhaps I don't
give as much thought to as I should, you know.

Speaker 18 (01:12:35):
And the main thing is just making it real for
every person, because we each have different lives in different
ways that we go about our days if we've got
to go to work or we work from home and
all of these things. But if we strip it back
and take out some of those expenses and think, well,
what does the pension mean for me and my life?
And would that be okay, you're going to get one
of those two answers. Actually, I'm going to be totally

(01:12:57):
happy on Super and I no longer have to worry
about retirement or well I need to get a into
g and start investing. I speaking to a lady who
gave us a go after hearing us talk about it
on our podcast, and she said, God, I really need
to invest because that's not going to be it for me.
I'm not to be just with it on and said Super.

Speaker 3 (01:13:17):
Yeah. See, just knowing that is such a valuable kind
of lesson and knowing it hopefully with a little bit
of runway between you know where you are now and
we are going to be come sixty five or sixty
seven or whatever the super ages when you get to
that time of life. Thank you so much, Ed, what
a great exercise. Really appreciate that that is. Think check
that is Ed McKnight from Op's Partners. We're in the

(01:13:38):
garden next on newstalk 'DB. It's ten to eleven.

Speaker 1 (01:13:42):
Gardening. We still sharp unbeatable Field Day specials in stores now.

Speaker 3 (01:13:47):
Rootlimb passes our man in the garden. Good morning, good
morning Jack.

Speaker 7 (01:13:53):
Have you got possums?

Speaker 3 (01:13:54):
Ah, we don't have possums. I look knocking wood everywhere.
I actually think at the moment, we don't have too
many peaces. I'm not even sure that we have rats
at the moment. I put out my trap and I
get nothing in it.

Speaker 7 (01:14:07):
Oh okay, well that that sounds good. Maybe we could
change some bait, yes, to make sure.

Speaker 3 (01:14:12):
You know, maybe they can smell me. That's always my concern,
you know, Yes.

Speaker 7 (01:14:17):
Exactly exactly. I remember Paul Home saying the same thing. Now,
I haven't got possums, so I taught them how to
how to imitate possums, Like he says, I hit it
every night.

Speaker 3 (01:14:30):
He said, yeah, and you know all the damage you're getting, yeah,
on your fruit trees and everything else. Yeah, I think
they might have.

Speaker 2 (01:14:39):
Yes, it does exactly.

Speaker 7 (01:14:40):
That was very funny actually, but you're absolutely right that
that's o work. I've chuck some pictures in there of
all sorts of trees that they have been literally chewed
to bump to buggery as we call it, with by possums.
And you don't sometimes really realize that that's what these
guys are doing. It's unbelievable. The other sign is scratches

(01:15:01):
on the back, so when they climb up, they have
these enormous what do you call it, and feet that
can actually make enormous cretuous and it's probably also a
marking of territory, I would say that.

Speaker 5 (01:15:16):
Yeah.

Speaker 7 (01:15:17):
And then under underneath the tree always find their pools
as well, which are quite clever to see. They're slightly
bigger than redspools of twice three times to size if
you like, and quite solid. But you can always tell
them that's uh, that's those are the gigs and it's
really good. But what you just mentioned was really called
the old lemon trees and mandarin trees and things like that.

(01:15:40):
Goodness me.

Speaker 2 (01:15:41):
Yeah, have you ever seen it?

Speaker 3 (01:15:44):
No, I mean I've I've seen not I'm not sure
I've seen it on the on the fruit trees necessarily.
I've seen the photos and the fruit trees. But I
mean they absolutely go to town, right.

Speaker 7 (01:15:54):
They certainly do. Especially the posts, especially in terms of
for instance, citrus, they you the the the whole skin
of not the actual fruit. Often that it's just somebody
who's been there overnight and basically peeling all the skin
of the fruit. And it's just incredible to see that
that's what they tend to like to do. Yeah, that's

(01:16:16):
exactly what it is. So the problem we had earlier
on a couple of decades ago, you know, when we
set up Project Crimson ours Porto Kawa was being done
up by these cri robbers, and that's basically what we
try to achieve to get that stopped and to get
the PoTA Kawo back in Northland in good numbers. And

(01:16:38):
that's been working quite well. Actually, that's nice. But then
I came across a bit of a statistic. If you
take all the possums in New Zealand together, they eat
each snide twenty one thousand tons of vegetable material.

Speaker 2 (01:16:54):
What.

Speaker 3 (01:16:56):
Yeah, and that's not why do we have that much
available for them?

Speaker 2 (01:17:01):
No, that's it.

Speaker 7 (01:17:02):
And that is of course, that's, by the way, the
same weight as the sky tower.

Speaker 3 (01:17:06):
Oh my goodness.

Speaker 7 (01:17:08):
Yeahah, So that means that a lot of trees are
being damaged absolutely, ye. Yeah, and that and that and
that also means that, of course there will be all
sorts of troubles with our with our carbon sequestration and
all that sort of stuff that keeps on going. So
what do you do get a possent trip? Yeah, and

(01:17:29):
you know one of the one of those tim strips
or a flip and Timmy. They're good. But they said,
you've also got these trips that reset themselves and they
go time after time after time. And here comes the
best gig I have for you. That's from Cam Speedy,
the guy that was at the Kiwi Uween last week.
We were in Rotoro, were talking about Kiwi and doing it.
You make a blaze which is a white drawn thing

(01:17:53):
on the trunk with flour one kilogram and icing sugar,
have a go oh.

Speaker 3 (01:17:58):
Nice and a bit of cinnamon, but a peach, but
a eucalyptus maybe some vanilla reasons. Sounds like you got
this boy. Yeah, you have we elastics for those possums.
Thank you so much.

Speaker 7 (01:18:07):
Rub.

Speaker 3 (01:18:08):
We'll put that little mix actually from Cam up on
the News talks 'DB website. After eleven o'clock, our travel
correspondent is taking us all to a bucketless destination the
Galapagos Islands. Can't wait for that. It's almost eleven. News
is next.

Speaker 1 (01:18:23):
Saturday Mornings with Jack Day keeping the conversation going through
the weekend with bpure Dot cot on in here for
high quality supplements. News Talks dB.

Speaker 6 (01:18:55):
More.

Speaker 3 (01:18:55):
Any of you're ejectaim on news talks 'db through to
twelve o'clock today. I am so excited to speak with
our travel correspondent very shortly. So the crazy thing is that, yeah,
I've kind of broken down different travel destinations around the
world and places that I want to prioritize. So before
having kids, I kind of went to some places that
you know, might not be the number one places you'd

(01:19:17):
visit once you've got children, the West Bank, for example,
given events of the last well a couple of years,
I suppose, but certainly the last twenty four hours. And
then I figured once I had kids, I would go
to places that were maybe a little bit more family friendly.
And then there are some bucket list destinations, some absolute
bucket list, bucket list destinations that are expensive, that might

(01:19:39):
be difficult to get to, and I reckon right there,
and they're the very top of that list. Of the
Galapagos Islands. They are not cheap to get to off
the coast of Ecuador. Of course, you've got to fly
through Ecuador. Then you've got to head out into the
Pacific Ocean, and of course it's kind of like land
before time. It's about as untouched as any ecosystem on
the planet can be. And there are all sorts of

(01:20:01):
things I would love to see at the Galapicus Islands,
the giant tortoises being a standout example. And I remember
a few years ago reading Bill bryson book You Know,
A Short History of Nearly Everything, in which he described
Darwin going to the Galapicus Islands for the first time
and the difficulty they had in bringing back a live

(01:20:23):
sample of a Galapagus Island tortoise to the UK, the
reason being that apparently giant tortoises are absolutely delicious, and
the problem would be is that the early sailors and
explorers would go out there, that colonial sailors and explorers
would go out there, they'd get a tortoise on board
the ship, and then they'd be sailing for a couple

(01:20:44):
of days and they think, h man, I'm starting to
get a bit hungry. I could really go for some
fresh meat Anymoreys like, no, no, no, don't even think
about the tortoise. Don't even think about the tortoise. And
then a couple more days would pass, maybe they go
through a storm that start to get a bit low
on supplies, and someone would say, you know what, it
would be really delicious if we just had a little

(01:21:05):
bit of a Galapagus island tortoise. And it took them
decades decades before they could finally get back a live
sample of a Galapicus island tortoise across the oceans because
apparently they were so delicious. So anyway, I might ask
our travel correspondent about that very shortly. Because Mike Yardly
has indeed been to the Galapicus islands, I feel cautiously

(01:21:25):
optimistic that he hasn't sampled a Galapicus island tortoise. That
would be a bit of a rude shock, don't think so.
David Attenborough would be very supportive of that, But he's
gonna be with us very shortly with all the details
on that, as well as that, you know, Schokola, the
movie and the book that inspired the movie will finally
a sequel to Schokola has been penned, so in our
book segment before midday, I'll give you all of the

(01:21:47):
details on that. Right now, it is ten past eleven,
Jack in time to catch up with our sustainability correspondent
Kate Hall, who was focusing on the toothbrush dilemma this
week good one in Kate, the toothbrush dilemma. I'm so
glad you were talking about this because I'm someone who
takes dental hygienic extremely seriously. Like I would say, it's

(01:22:09):
not it's not an obsession, but it's definitely a passion,
you know what I mean, Like it's a I'm a
I'm a flosser, I'm an interdental brusher, and I'm certainly
a toothbrusher multiple times a day as well. There's just
nothing like that freshmouth feeling, you know. So, but here's
the thing. But obviously toothbrushes are not necessarily the most
sustainable thing in the world. And yeah, I don't know

(01:22:30):
that using plastic dental tape or interdental brushes are necessarily
that sustainable as well. But you've got those eco toothbrushes
and it turns out that they're not necessarily that sustainable either.

Speaker 14 (01:22:43):
Yeah, it's toothbrushes are really hard one because we need them.
Like it's sustainable to brush your teeth. You know, it's
great when you have positive, you know, not an intense
dental hygiene. It's awesome when you're aware of that. But
you know, we're creating all these ecotoothbrushes that some of
them are made from you know, they'll say they're made
from plant based plastic materials. They will only break down

(01:23:06):
and certain composting commercial composting facilities, so they're still ending
up actually a lot of them, like on our beaches.
When you see the beach clean up data, a lot
of the ways there is toothbrushes.

Speaker 3 (01:23:19):
They're so gross.

Speaker 13 (01:23:20):
Yeah.

Speaker 14 (01:23:21):
Yeah, and then if that plant based plastic ends up
in landfill, it's not going to break down, you know.
So all of the toothbrushes, if you ever used, are
still existing out there today. Globally, we throw away twenty
three billion toothbrushes each year, like just approximately. Yeah, so yeah,
it's something. It's something we can't just cut out of

(01:23:43):
our lays. You know, we can't just say no, which
I think was sustainability. Often you can be like, actually
I don't need that, Yeah we do. We do need
to be brushing our teeth. So even the compostable ones,
you know, the wooden ones, Yeah, you know, they're they're
great because you know, it's often they're just literally just
made of wood and you can use that on your

(01:24:05):
fire in the wintertime, or I use them as like
I write on what vegetables are planted and use them
as little you know, little planter labelers things like that.
That's right, Yeah, easy to repurpose. But even then it's
still a single use kind of item that we're replacing.
You know, you should be replacing several times a year.

(01:24:27):
I'm not sure if everyone does replace their toothbrushes as
much as then just recommend this, but we have. We
have some new ideas around toothbrushes that are coming in
which I recently switched to, which is a it's basically
like choosing your Harry Potter wand because technically this reusable

(01:24:47):
toothbrush they have should last me my lifetime, so that
the stick the handle of your toothbrush that doesn't wear out. Right,
when we're throwing out a toothbrush, you're throwing it out
because all the bristles have worn out. Yeah, of course,
So this one Funky is the brand, and they're super new.
They're here in Auckland, New Zealand. You just pop out

(01:25:08):
the head. So that does need to go to Lancel
a little plastic thing, but we haven't again, unless you're
using different samble toothbrushes that are made from like boar
bristles or you know, different things that head does. Do
you need to go? It's a very small little heads,
but again for sustainability for our house, that's currently the

(01:25:30):
technology we have. But yeah, you just pop out the
little heads and place it with a new one.

Speaker 3 (01:25:35):
Ah, that's so good.

Speaker 2 (01:25:37):
Yeah, it's literally when.

Speaker 14 (01:25:39):
I saw that, I think they have some in Europe.
But when I saw it, I was like, why haven't
we been doing?

Speaker 16 (01:25:45):
Yeah?

Speaker 3 (01:25:45):
So what's a company called Funky.

Speaker 2 (01:25:49):
In GK way Fonky.

Speaker 3 (01:25:52):
Oh yeah, right, okay, called Funky. Yeah that sounds great.
What about just extending the life of your brush? Like,
are there other things that you can do after you've
used it, you know as a toothbrush, you use it
for you know, disciplining the kids and getting them to
clean the bathroom.

Speaker 1 (01:26:06):
Asolutely.

Speaker 14 (01:26:07):
I think, yeah, I have toothbrushes kind of all over
and often, especially if they're the wooden ones, I will
write on you know what the purpose is for you're
kind of step press. Right, So you've got one for
like bathroom stuff. One maybe that's the grubby outdoor things.
One to you know, don't polish your shoes. You know,
there are all sorts of things we can repurpose, yeah, toothbrusures.

(01:26:30):
But just knowing that even even the schemes, I'm quite skeptical,
all the schemes that you can recycle your toothbrushes and
stuff like that, they take energy, they take time, they
take money. Sometimes they don't even end up actually a
lot of the time they don't end up being recycled
in the right place. So working and focusing on that

(01:26:51):
reuse elements that toothbrush is something we will need for
our whole lives, and so thinking about how we can
do that so much better and still keep up our
dental hygiene like I have whenever I try new sustainable
dint products, take it to my dentist at my regular checkup,
and I say, is this okay? You know with my

(01:27:12):
two thanks from solid oial Care, who makes it in Wellington?
Is this you know, like, is this actually dentist approved?
And then I say, yep, cool, and yeah, my teeth,
my teeth has been great for many years, and I've
used all sorts of these sustainable products. So yeah, sustainable
for our house and the planets.

Speaker 3 (01:27:29):
So I mentioned those other things that I use. I
use the little brushes, you know, the little inter dental
brushes are kind of like pipe gains almost, so you
can get the bamboo versions of those now, so they're
not just plastic based. But the big one for me,
the problematic one is dental floss and my teeth are
really close together. So if I use the kind of

(01:27:50):
ropie one that's made out of a natural product, it
doesn't get in between my teeth. Yes, So at the
moment you're gonna hate me for saying this, I'm using
I'm using like a plastic tape to get in there,
and I tell you what I know. But it's just
it's so clean, you.

Speaker 14 (01:28:08):
Know, And you know what, actually, if that's like, I
think we still need we have a little bit to
go in terms of advancing our sustainable dental floss because
it is a really important product for our teeth. And
like even Tim, my husband, he's exactly the same. He
tries these these more sustainable and then they just break

(01:28:32):
in his teeth and and for me they kind of work,
maybe have a little bit more space to turn my teeth.
It runs different. But but I just say, you know,
invest in one that you know is going to be
really good. For your teeth, timbre often maybe grost and

(01:28:53):
you know that's just maybe reduces how much he uses.
So it's it's not about throwing away and like giving
up all these things in the name of sustainability. It's
actually just being being clever and yeah, yeah, thinking about
if your the option is just not flushing your teeth,
and you know that may end up in a whole
lot of different mental kind of surgeries or things that

(01:29:17):
need to be done that will involve a whole lot
more waste. So yeah, just being clear.

Speaker 3 (01:29:22):
About it, all right, Kate, you're better tim than me.
I reckon on that one. But thank you if you
come across a really good sustainable option that gets in
between the teeth time all the years. I promise I
can find Kate on social media, of course, by searching ethically. Kate,
and we will catch again soon.

Speaker 1 (01:29:37):
Travel with Windy Woo Tours Where the World Is Yours book.

Speaker 3 (01:29:41):
Now twenty past eleven. Our travel correspondent is Mike Yardley.
He's with us this morning and feeling very pleased with himself.
I reckon, how about those last ten minutes?

Speaker 2 (01:29:52):
The heart is still in recovery mode. Jack.

Speaker 3 (01:29:54):
It was an amazing Super Rugby semi final. I just
thought it was that you'd like just everything about it
was fantastic, and I am aware of that because the
Crusader's wine, I'm probably feeling a whole lot more positive
than many Blues fans are the small But does that
mean you're going to be at the final next week?

Speaker 1 (01:30:08):
Make?

Speaker 13 (01:30:09):
I am my father and me last hour and he said,
do you want to go to the game with me
next weekend? So yes, I'm locked in rain hail or
snow jack.

Speaker 3 (01:30:18):
Very good. Yeah, well, actually depending on who we play. Yeah,
the conditions could be in our favor if they are
and pretty chilly sounds It is pretty chilly down at
Pitts Level last night as well. But anyway, we are
turning our attentions to a slightly more tropical climb this morning.
One of my bucket list destinations the Galapagos Islands. So yeah,

(01:30:39):
how lucky are you to have visited the Galapagos? Would
you say that cruising is the best way to kind
of delve into the Galapagos?

Speaker 13 (01:30:46):
Ideally I would do both land and cruise, but yes,
definitely to take in a swag of islands in a
short space of time. Given a lot of them are unpeopled,
and you can't stay on these islands.

Speaker 2 (01:30:58):
Yes, that's where cruising is just such a revelation.

Speaker 13 (01:31:03):
And I headed there with Weaver Expeditions on a ship
called Pinter. It had only forty guests, lots of young
working professionals, so I had like a Hollywood actor, a
French model, and a Dutch psychiatrist at my table.

Speaker 3 (01:31:20):
Novel.

Speaker 13 (01:31:20):
Yeah, yeah, it so does all the opening line to
a joke. Yes, well, we had way too much fun, jack.
But what I particularly loved was every time we zipped
a shaw for guided excursions.

Speaker 2 (01:31:31):
There was no more than ten people in our group.

Speaker 13 (01:31:34):
So yeah, just that small intimate experience just heightened the
encounter immeasurably.

Speaker 3 (01:31:41):
Ah, so special. So what islands had your cruise taken?

Speaker 13 (01:31:45):
We did a swing through the eastern islands of the Galapagus,
which are the older group of islands, so the western
group they younger, still rising, principally shaped by eruptions. But yeah,
we took in South Plaza, Santa Fe, San Cristobal, and
Espaniola Islands, and then I finished up in Santa Cruz,
where I stayed a few nights, which we'll talk about
next week. But the thing which blew me away is

(01:32:07):
Darwin's theory of evolution. It just becomes so vividly self
evident the more you explore the Galapagus, because so many
creatures there. They're not just endemic to the Galapagos, but
endemic to those individual islands. And I had this amazing
guide to Lexus. He was like a male Alixa, so

(01:32:27):
you could ask him anything about the Galapicus and he
had delivered the most commanding and lightning answers.

Speaker 3 (01:32:32):
Yeah, ah, so good. So we're going to talk about
your time on the island next week, and we'll save
the tortoises for next week as well, because I know
you're tortoises. I'm not the only ones and we're not
eating them. But what were the wildlife highlights outside of
the tortoises for you?

Speaker 13 (01:32:48):
Yeah, they talk about the Big fifteen as the Galapicus
wildlife icons. Obviously the tortoises right at the top. But
I found the birds so engrossing. Jack car toonishly colorful
and so quirky, just bursting with personality. So they've got
these guys is called the blue footed boobies. These guys

(01:33:09):
are my favorites. So they are enormous seabirds, comical to
watch because the ungainly walking style reminds you of circus clowns,
you know. And then in flight they just transform into
precision hunting machines with the most spectacular plunge style dives
underwater where also watch their mating dance, and the males

(01:33:33):
they will exuberantly show off their feet to their prospective
girlfriends because apparently the ladies.

Speaker 2 (01:33:40):
Prefer a turquoise shade of blue.

Speaker 13 (01:33:42):
They don't like a deeper blue because a deeper blue
suggests the hopeless at catching fish.

Speaker 2 (01:33:49):
So these are the things you learn at the galapagus.
Another highlight very quickly the frigatebirds.

Speaker 13 (01:33:55):
The males had the most fascinating bright red throat skin sects,
and when they are wanting to caught a chick, they
inflate these eggs which form a giant heart shaped balloon.

Speaker 3 (01:34:12):
Yeah. Were there lots of iguanas.

Speaker 13 (01:34:16):
Yeah, crawling with these super sized lizards, and I got
up close and personal with the yellow land iguana on
South Plaza Island. These guys are just mesmerizing and that
yellow color is the result of eating prickly pear.

Speaker 2 (01:34:32):
Cactus plants.

Speaker 13 (01:34:35):
Very few species eats cactie undistendably. But the thing which
blew me away Jack was watching these iguanas rolling the
cactie furiously, feverishly in the sand on the beach, and
they were trying to blunt the spikes, you know, just.

Speaker 2 (01:34:51):
To make the consumption somewhat more comfortable.

Speaker 3 (01:34:55):
Yeah, exactly, isn't it incredible?

Speaker 9 (01:34:57):
Yeah?

Speaker 3 (01:34:58):
You think, come on, just diversified that diet a little bit.
And how does the snort?

Speaker 2 (01:35:04):
Yeah? Really good.

Speaker 13 (01:35:05):
The water clarity is good, although it is cold, even
though the Galapagus is pretty much on the equator. Of course,
you've got that nutrient rich Humboldt current which comes all
that cold will water up from Antarctica, so you will
want to wear a wet suit in the galapagus. But yeah,
I did some snorkeling off Santa Fe Island which was

(01:35:26):
really good.

Speaker 2 (01:35:27):
Lots of tropical fish. But the thing which I love
the most the sea lions.

Speaker 13 (01:35:31):
I mean not just sort of monopolizing the beaches of
the Galapagos, but they will go swimming with you.

Speaker 2 (01:35:38):
They just love it.

Speaker 13 (01:35:39):
They will, you know, you can just tell us so
playful around you, and it's sort of like they try
and outwitch you and think, yeah, you're too slow for me.

Speaker 2 (01:35:48):
They just love it. They just love that interaction.

Speaker 3 (01:35:51):
So did you have a kind of favorite standout island experience.

Speaker 13 (01:35:57):
I would have to say Espaniola, So the entire island
is a national park, heaves with hot wildlife. The star
there for me was the galapagus albatross, which is the
only species of albatross that lives in the tropics, and
you will only find it on that island. So watching

(01:36:18):
these A three eighty style birds take flight, it was
just pure drama because aus tenuously waddle up to the
edge of this really high cliff and then just hurl
themselves at the sea below, do or die style in
order to gain speed for flight. It was heart in
your mouth stuff watching them. And then you've just got

(01:36:40):
the most spectacular scenery on Espaniola, you know, sort of
thunderous lava blowholes and just the most vivid colors to
the foliage.

Speaker 2 (01:36:49):
So yeah, that would that would be the one that
would get my ticture of the list.

Speaker 3 (01:36:54):
Okay, what surprised you most about the galapagus?

Speaker 2 (01:36:58):
Overall?

Speaker 13 (01:36:59):
I have never encountered anywhere on Earth where there are
so many animals and birds and their own natural and
environment who show.

Speaker 19 (01:37:08):
No fear of you.

Speaker 2 (01:37:10):
No critter.

Speaker 13 (01:37:11):
Yeah, no creature in the Galapaga seemed the least bit
perturbed by our presence in their realm. And it wasn't
that they were indifferent. They weren't indifferent. Some are quite
inquisitive and wanted to play, like the sea lions. But
just that universal absence of fear was something I've never
experienced with so much wildlife, and I think that is

(01:37:34):
what made the Galapagas so special for me.

Speaker 3 (01:37:36):
Oh that sounds amazing, Mike. I'm just burning with envy
at the moment, to be perfectly honest, not only because
of the Super Rugby final you'll be attending next weekend,
but for this amazing adventure. So yeah, really looking forward
to hearing a bit more about it. The tortoises we
can do next week as well, But it sounds like
a wonderful start to the trips. Thank you very much.

(01:37:56):
We will catch you in so Mike Hardley, our travel correspondent.
For more tips on cruising the Galapagos Islands, you can
go to the news talks He'd Be website. We'll put
everything from our show up there. Every single little bit
of information, all the shows that we recommend, our film reviews, books,
all that good stuff goes up on the website, and
the easiest way to find our page on the website

(01:38:17):
is to go to News Talks, dB dot co dot
NZ forward slash Jack. I'm cautiously optimistic you can recogne
remember that one. It's honestly just the easiest way to
follow things along at home. And it's just coming up
to eleven thirty. We'll see what's on weekend sport in
a couple of minutes.

Speaker 1 (01:38:36):
Getting your weekends started. It's Saturday morning with Jack team
on News Talks edb.

Speaker 4 (01:38:44):
The Lord of my.

Speaker 16 (01:38:44):
German shepherdies, hold.

Speaker 4 (01:38:48):
The hell you died on you.

Speaker 11 (01:38:52):
And as your cup runs over, keep.

Speaker 4 (01:38:56):
Testing the wind of this shipmen.

Speaker 3 (01:39:00):
I know what you're thinking. You're thinking, Oh, but a
britpop Yes and no, it is a britpop sound, but
that's actually a Kiwi band called Ringlets, that songs called
I was on that roof once quite like it A
just gone eleven thirty only Saturday morning. Jason Pine is
with us for weekend Sport this afternoon and a big

(01:39:20):
weekend in Super Rugby that he will be looking at
not only tonight's semi final the Chiefs and the Brumbies,
but of course that thrilling semi last night, the Crusaders
getting up over the Blues despite having been fourteen points
down in christ just at one stage. What did you
make of those final ten minutes, those final thrilling ten minutes.

Speaker 10 (01:39:39):
Piney loved it, Jack loved it from a you know,
from somebody who didn't have skin in either game or
either either camp. I'm not a Blues fan or a
Crusaders fan, but I just appreciated the intensity of it all.
You know, none of this, yeah, yeah, yeah, it was
just an arm wrestle, you know, punctuated with moments that
that saw tri scored. You know, Will Jordan, I'm not

(01:40:02):
sure I've ever seen him with a pick and go
from a yard out to score a try. Yeah, there
he was in the thick of the action. I just
also think that the rivalry the Auckland Canterbury, the old
Auckland Canterbury nowadays the Blues Crusaders' rivalry is real again.
And you know, say what you like about Riko Yowani,
but he stoked the fires during the week with the
social media posts, and sport needs its characters, we shouldn't

(01:40:25):
fence them in, and he kept that game in the
headlines right across the weekend.

Speaker 11 (01:40:28):
Last night. There was clearly some real feeling in that game,
and I love it.

Speaker 5 (01:40:32):
I love it.

Speaker 10 (01:40:33):
It was a terrific contest. Look, the Crusaders are going
to be so difficult for whoever goes through tonight to
beat next weekend.

Speaker 3 (01:40:41):
We all know the stats.

Speaker 10 (01:40:42):
They've never lost a finals match at home. And while
Vern kinda tried to make that a bit of a
millstone around there next this week and said, hey, there's
pressure on that one day I'm going to lose. I
think they were it as a badge of honor. They
love the fact that they that they're undefeated, you know
in the three. I think it's terrific.

Speaker 3 (01:40:57):
Yeah, I totally agree, you know what I thought last night,
Depending obviously on how things go this evening, presuming the
Chiefs get up, and that's a big presumption, so I
should be everyone saying that. But if the Chiefs get up,
how significant is that result last week going to prove
to be? In that the Chiefs lose the top spot
and the finals played in christ as opposed to in Hamilton.

(01:41:18):
I mean that could prove to be a really telling
moment in the kind of context of the Super Rugby season.

Speaker 10 (01:41:24):
Well historically speaking, you know, like I say, I mean,
no one's ever won a game down there in a
knockout match. So yeah, look, the Chiefs I'm sure will
take on if they go through, We'll take on a
very similar mindset and that you know, that record's got
to fall at some stage. But we'll put it this way, Jack,
I get the feeling when the odds come out for
the final early next week, it'll be the Crusaders who
are favorites, regardless of who they are.

Speaker 3 (01:41:46):
Yeah, that's a good way to think about it. So
how are you feeling ahead of tonight?

Speaker 10 (01:41:50):
I think the Chiefs will be okay. Look, I think
they got a bit of a kick in the back
side last week. We all thought they would beat the Blues.
The Blues played well against them and kept their season alive.
I just can't see the Brumby's coming across and winning
over here we talk about records. No Australian side has
ever won a knockout match in New Zealand. I can't
see that changing tonight. So yeah, I think we're headed
for a Crusaders Chiefs final. I think we all kind

(01:42:12):
of thought that right early on, but we just thought
it would be in Hamilton. Yeah, not in christ yet,
but yeah, if it is to be that, it will
be in the Garden City.

Speaker 11 (01:42:20):
You know that ground keeps on hanging on, doesn't it.

Speaker 9 (01:42:24):
Know?

Speaker 11 (01:42:24):
Every week is like this could be.

Speaker 10 (01:42:26):
The last game here, This could be the last game here. Well,
next week will be the last game there, and I'm
sure those Red and Black fans will will be there
to send it off in style.

Speaker 3 (01:42:34):
So you'll be looking at last night, Simmy. You'll be
counting down to tonight, Simmi as well. And then Sonny
Bill Williams in studio.

Speaker 11 (01:42:40):
Yeah, looking forward to chatting to s b W. After
two o'clock. He's going to pop in.

Speaker 10 (01:42:45):
We know now that he's had this fight with Paul
Gallon confirmed for Wednesday, July sixteen. There seems to be
we're talking about the beef between the Reds and the
sort of the Blues and the Crusaders. The beef between
Sonny Bill Williams and Paul Gallon is absolutely real.

Speaker 3 (01:43:00):
Beef between Sunny Bill Williams and Ryan Bridge seemed to
be taking off this week as well. My goodness, I'm
not sure.

Speaker 10 (01:43:06):
I'm not sure Ryan Bridge will be jumping in the
ring with sunny Bill Williams anytime soon, but ye have
a chat to sunny Belt And also it's afternoon. Want
to unpack quite an interesting issue around year fourteen's playing
secondary school sport. This race its head during the week
with Marlborough Boys found to have five year fourteens in
their first fifteen. You know, this has kind of been

(01:43:26):
bubbling away. Marty Cup banned this sort of thing earlier
this year.

Speaker 11 (01:43:30):
Is it back now? Is it prevalent? What can be
do understop it?

Speaker 2 (01:43:33):
So?

Speaker 11 (01:43:33):
I got that on the stuff.

Speaker 3 (01:43:34):
I mean, I just find it unbelievable than anyone any
year fourteen is allowed to be playing. Yeah, it just
seems like a very simple rule to me. There's no
complexity whatsoever. If you're a sorry, even if you're at
school and you're there for legitimate reasons, sorry, you can't
play first fifteen. Seems simple.

Speaker 11 (01:43:49):
I hope, I get.

Speaker 5 (01:43:50):
I hope.

Speaker 11 (01:43:50):
You even just shut down my talk back for the.

Speaker 3 (01:43:53):
No, that's all you need to ask. Give us a
good reason why year fourteen should be allowed to play first. Yeah,
very good, looking forward to the show this afternoon. Maybe
I'll just take on a pseudonym and send you some
text to stir things up by Jason Fine behind the
mic for us this afternoon with Weekend Sport. Before then,
we're going to play this new album by King Gizzard

(01:44:13):
and the Wizard Lizard, their twenty seventh album. They've come
up with all sorts of kind of experimental music and
different sounds, So looking forward to having a listen to that.
Next up, your book picks for this weekend.

Speaker 1 (01:44:24):
Saturday Morning with Jack Team Full Show podcast on iHeartRadio,
call it by News Talks at B.

Speaker 2 (01:44:31):
Twenty to twelve.

Speaker 3 (01:44:32):
It is this time every Saturday morning that our book
reviewer Katherine Rain comes and give us gives us her
two top picks for the week, and she's here this morning,
Kilder Catherine warning Jack, Let's begin with Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins. Read.

Speaker 9 (01:44:47):
So, this is the type of the book where you
start almost at the end and you work your way
back from that point from the past. And so you
kind to begin in the late seventies and early eighties
and you meet this woman Joan Goodwin, who's an astronomy
professor at Rice University, and she has this lifelong fascination
with the stars, and she ends up applying for NASA's
Space Shuttle program as they begin accepting woman candidates, and

(01:45:09):
so through her eyes you see the training and the
interaction with the fellow candidates in Houston, and she sees
this divide very early on between the nerds really and
the soldiers and those with their military backgrounds, particularly the pilots.
And you learn a lot about mission control and the
mechanics of spaceflight. And while the author gives a lot
of attention to those technical aspects of space, it's the

(01:45:31):
human stories that unfold alongside it, and their professional ambitions
alongside their personal struggles. And you see Jones' journey from
this very reserved academic to this passionate astronaut, and hits
her relationship with her Nissan particular Francis that is really
touching and wonderful. And then there's this dynamic where Joan
forges some unlikely friendships and this very unexpected romance with

(01:45:56):
a fellow astronaut candidate, Vanessa Ford, and that challenges everything
she thought she knew about her play herself in her
place in the universe, and that portrayal of NASA in
the eighties feels really authentic and well researched. And you know,
she addresses discrimination and the challenges faced by women in
the Space Program and celebrates their achievements as well. And
the book's incredibly well thought out and constructed, and you

(01:46:18):
dip into the past and the present and you see
that Will through Joan and Vanessa's eyes, and it's really
captivating and really human focused and really attached to the
story and the characters and about that humanity and relationship
and emotions, and it felt really real.

Speaker 20 (01:46:32):
It's really well toped.

Speaker 3 (01:46:33):
So it's a novel, I mean, this is the yes,
absolutely right. So it's a novel that's kind of set
against the backdrop of the of the Space Program in
the eighties. Yeah, sounds intriguing, Okay, cool. So that's Atmosphere
by Taylor Jenkins Reader. Taylor Jinkers Reader is like New
York Times number one best seller three times over or whatever.
So you're not surprised to hear that it's so well constructed,
but that does sound really good. Next up, finally, a

(01:46:57):
sequel to Choko l Art tell Us about VRM by
Joanne Harris.

Speaker 9 (01:47:02):
Twenty five years ago, Believe it or not, Joan Harris
introduced the world of a bean and her magical skills
at creating chokola, at creating chocolate and weaving herself into
the lives of others by trying to bring harmony into
their lives, and her book Chocola And now twenty five
years later week she had a prequel. So this is
her life before Chakala, and it's really magical and moving

(01:47:23):
and about love and tragedy and friendship. So you meet
her as Sylvany when she's only twenty and pregnant and
finds herself in the city of Marseilles after scattering her
mother's ashes in the Hudson.

Speaker 5 (01:47:35):
Bay in New York.

Speaker 9 (01:47:36):
And she starts working in the small cafe and she's
taught to cook the recipes from Lewis's late wife's cookbook,
and there's a real enchantment about it, and she starts
to put bit together the pieces of his life. And
she meet some locals in the cafe.

Speaker 17 (01:47:49):
Guys Came.

Speaker 9 (01:47:50):
There's two people called Guy and Mahama who make chocolate,
and they teach her their skills, and that's where she
really finds her love for cooking and reinvents herself as Vivian,
and that Wonders of chocolate and its magic really mesmerizes her.
But she's really fearful of her mother's reluctance of settling
down in one place, and so she takes off without warning,

(01:48:11):
leaving her friends quite distraught. And there's a real mystical
element running through the book. There's tarot cards and rituals
and her ability to see and read people's colors and
understand them so quite clearly. But the writing feels really
kind of authentic and mesmerizing, and you almost feel like
you're in Marseille and the summer breeze and you can
smell the pretzels and the beer in New York and

(01:48:31):
the fresh herbs and garlic cooking and ShaSS. The recipes are,
you know, like if you're kind of a bit of
a food fanatic. This is also because you feel immersed
in that world. And it's a perfect book for escapism,
and it's a brilliant prequel to the whole Chucolar story.

Speaker 3 (01:48:44):
Ah sounds so good, fantastic. That is VR by Joanne Harris.
Catherine's first book is Atmosphere by Taylor Dienkins read and
of course both of those will be on the website.

Speaker 1 (01:48:55):
Giving you the inside scoop on all you need to know.
Saturday Mornings with Jack Dame and Bpure dot co dot
nzet for high quality supplements, news talks, that'd be.

Speaker 4 (01:49:14):
I just bolt under the tree, so I was sweet.

Speaker 3 (01:49:31):
This is Phantom Island. It's a song by King Gizzard
and the Wizard Lizard from an album of the same title.
I quite like that. It's busy.

Speaker 6 (01:49:41):
It is.

Speaker 3 (01:49:42):
It's busy, yeah, but but I quite like that. And
I'm ashamed to say I'd never heard of King Gizzard
until and the Wizard Lizards inevitable. It was inevitable. Don't
pretend like you're surprised. I'd never heard of King Gizzard
and the Lizard Wizard until this week in Estelle Clifford,
our music reviewer, bringing them to my attention. Good morning.

Speaker 20 (01:50:03):
More than that, do you know?

Speaker 21 (01:50:04):
The first time I heard these guys was twenty nineteen
and they had, I think just been nominated for an
ARIA for their heavy metal album, right, So when I've
sort of first discovered them, I was like, oh, right,
they're full metal rock band. Okay, that's kind of cool.
And then the next album were like, hang on, wait,
are they still the same people? I don't understand right,
they are the absolute I mean it's in the name Lizard,

(01:50:27):
isn't it. Chameleons, the chameleons of music. They don't like
to sit still in anything too long, very playful, much
like their name. That's just there is an absolute trip
hazard for everybody who's to say it out loud on
the radio, I think. But just very very talented musicians
and again very playful with genres and then actually how

(01:50:48):
they bring them all together. Yeah, these guys are also
like I think it was like twenty fifteen or something,
they released an album called Quarters and it was literally
four songs that were over ten minutes long.

Speaker 20 (01:50:59):
Oh and that was a whole album just that.

Speaker 21 (01:51:02):
So they're not playing into they're not playing into any
sort of mainstream we think our music's going to go
straight to radio play or anything like that. They're really
just creating music for what they like. I think a
lot of it comes from some jam studio sessions and
then they evolved from there. This album Phantom Island. They
really have created imagery and also music that goes with

(01:51:25):
their imagery that sounds like you're literally like, I think
one of the pictures is a fish with a trumpet
going up on a round a building, you know. So
it's very it's almost their Sergeant Pepper's album, you know,
and it's very theatrical and a little bit flamboyant, and
there's this orchestral stuff. So from their last album, they
actually had like a group of songs that didn't make

(01:51:46):
the last album, but they felt like they belonged somewhere
and that's something needed to happen to them. So they
got on board with a friend called Chad Kelly. Now
he's a conductor and he's an arranger, and so they
got him to put these orchestral other elements to the songs.
And it's really clever because Phantom island there, like there's
these massive during sections and you know, just it's quite odd,

(01:52:10):
like every now and then there's like this random oboe
sort of sound that you get through the base of it,
and it's a really quite interesting fusion. And I think
for them what it did is it re excited them
about these leftover songs, which must be frustrating when you've
written so much work and you do feel like they
have a life, and so I think that part there
for them was like, Okay, yes, this can be a

(01:52:30):
whole other album.

Speaker 20 (01:52:32):
There's still this real poppy.

Speaker 21 (01:52:34):
Kind of sound to a lot of the tracks. Yeah,
so it's a little I don't know, it's kind of
I don't know, what is it orchestral.

Speaker 3 (01:52:42):
Theatrical yah, yeah, theatrical.

Speaker 20 (01:52:44):
Yeah, yeah, let's just go with that.

Speaker 21 (01:52:45):
I actually really enjoy lead singer Stu Mackenzie's voice is
really great on this. It's quite playful along with the music.
I mean, sometimes the actual lyrics might sit a little
bit deep and it might be about our impact on
the environment and what's going on in life, but you
don't sink into that first, if you know what I mean,
Like you're so taken away with what's going on musically.

(01:53:06):
And I think also if you've got some really good
headphones or loud speakers, that's the best way to hit
this album straight up. Like just each song is like
a random little trip. Yeah right, yeah, and so much
going on for it, So yeah, crank it up nice
and loud, really embrace that great voice in the harmonies
that come through a really cool Yeah.

Speaker 20 (01:53:27):
I like what they do actually a little bit psychedelic
pop too.

Speaker 3 (01:53:30):
Maybe Differentely got a psychedelic yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 20 (01:53:33):
And then there's a bit of jazz funk.

Speaker 21 (01:53:35):
You know, you'll get that sort of funky bassline that
goes through a lot of the songs too. And yeah,
a little more playful and a lot brighter than I
think I've probably heard some of their music, Like, I've
actually really enjoyed this album. Yeah, and I'm kind of fascinating.
I think they're one of those bands for me that
you're like, oh, these guys, Okay, what.

Speaker 20 (01:53:52):
Are we going to get you?

Speaker 21 (01:53:54):
You feel excited in some ways when they release a
new album because you're never quite.

Speaker 3 (01:53:57):
Sure, you never shy totally twenty seventh album.

Speaker 7 (01:54:01):
I know.

Speaker 3 (01:54:01):
That's insane, isn't it. It's just ridiculous.

Speaker 8 (01:54:03):
Yeah.

Speaker 21 (01:54:04):
Yeah, they did that crazy thing like Troy King, where
they decided to release, you know, a whole heap of
albums in one year. So there were two consecutive years
where they released like five studio albums each year.

Speaker 2 (01:54:15):
Cool.

Speaker 3 (01:54:16):
Yeah, So do we just call them King Gizzard just.

Speaker 20 (01:54:19):
King Gizzard's Easy or kg LW.

Speaker 3 (01:54:22):
Oh yep, but I don't know that a g l W.
Yeah yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, no, that makes sense.

Speaker 20 (01:54:29):
Okay, there's actually a name for their fans.

Speaker 5 (01:54:30):
It's there.

Speaker 21 (01:54:31):
It's something around the gizzard parts. I quite think what
it is, but people sit in the gizzard part and
it's okay.

Speaker 5 (01:54:38):
What did you give it?

Speaker 3 (01:54:38):
What do you give Phantom Island?

Speaker 20 (01:54:40):
Look, I'm really enjoying it isn't eight out of ten?

Speaker 3 (01:54:42):
Nice? All right, we'll get a bit more of a
listener to a couple of minutes. Thank you so much
to Stelle Pleuresdale Clifford, our music reviewer. More King Gizzard
and the Wizard Lizard for you in a couple of minutes.

Speaker 1 (01:54:53):
A cracking way to start your Saturday. Saturday Mornings with
Jack Day and bpwre dot co dot insad for high
quality Supplements, News Talks.

Speaker 3 (01:55:02):
Super Rugby Semi Final two just over seven hours away,
seven hours and ten minutes away. There you go, We've
just ticked over to five to twelve on News Talks.
He'd be Jason Pine is gonna be counting down to
that semi final the Chiefs and the Brumbies and Hamilton tonight.
He's also going to have sunny Bill Williams live in
studio this afternoon. So cannot wait for that on Weekend Sport.

(01:55:24):
For everything from this morning, though, you can go to
News Talks headb Dot cot On enz Ford slash Jack.
Thank you for all of your feedback. Thanks to my
wonderful producer Libby and her crush on Pedro Pascal for
doing all the tough stuff for us. This morning, We're
gonna leave you with King Gizzard and the Wizard Lizard.
Their new album is Phantom Island. This song is called
Lonely Cosmos. See you next week.

Speaker 1 (01:57:28):
For more from Saturday Morning with Jack Tame, listen live
to News Talks at B from nine am Saturday, or
follow the podcast on iHeartRadio
Advertise With Us

Popular Podcasts

Dateline NBC

Dateline NBC

Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Special Summer Offer: Exclusively on Apple Podcasts, try our Dateline Premium subscription completely free for one month! With Dateline Premium, you get every episode ad-free plus exclusive bonus content.

The Breakfast Club

The Breakfast Club

The World's Most Dangerous Morning Show, The Breakfast Club, With DJ Envy, Jess Hilarious, And Charlamagne Tha God!

Crime Junkie

Crime Junkie

Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.

Music, radio and podcasts, all free. Listen online or download the iHeart App.

Connect

© 2025 iHeartMedia, Inc.