Full Show Podcast: 04 October 2025

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:07):
You're listening to the Saturday Morning with Jack Team podcast
from News Talks at b Start your weekend off the
right way. Saturday Morning with Jack Team News Talks.

Speaker 2 (00:18):
At b jod and New Zealand. Good morning and welcome

(00:46):
to News Talks eDV. Jack Tame with you through to
twelve o'clock today. Okay, I've had to listen. I have
had to listen to the most hyped album of twenty
twenty five. It has chatted all sorts of streaming records
on Spotify. Taylor Swift's latest, her twelfth album, The Life
of a Showgirl, released five pm yesterday, of course New

(01:08):
Zealand time. At first blush, I would say, I'm a
little underwhelmed. Actually, no, I'm not underwhelmed because truth be told,
as famously open minded as I am, and you know
how open minded I am, As famously open minded as
I am, Taylor Swift's pop kind of era isn'tly my

(01:29):
cup of tea at the best of times. I actually,
I actually really like Taylor Swift's early albums. But yeah,
everything since Shake It Off for me has been a
bit meth so. Anyway, we aren't gonna put her album
only to my test this morning. No, No, we're gonna
we're gonna play you a couple of songs off at
given the amount of hype that's come with it, given

(01:49):
the amount of streams it's already boasting. Will play you
a couple of Taylor Swift tracks. Our music reviewer will
be in as well with his thoughts on the album
as a whole. But yeah, my first take is just that,
you know what, it was a it was a bit dull.
Maybe it was just a little bit kind of it
was a bit low energy, and I perhaps expected it
would be a bit more pumped up. Anyway, big show
with you this morning. Taylor Swift isn't the only superstar

(02:12):
we're focusing on. Before ten o'clock, will tell you about
the rock's latest film, The Smashing Machine. It's a little
bit different by the rock standards, you know how usually
in movies he's kind of playing like he often is
kind of in sort of comedy adjacent films. The Smashing
Machine is a drama and it kind of follows the
emotional life of a professional cage fighter. So we'll tell

(02:33):
you about The Smashing Machine very shortly. I think I
had about a fifteen minute standing ovation when at day
bird ortho. They all do, don't they. Yeah, we'll tell
you about that very shortly. We'll count down to the
all blacks Wallaby second letters low this evening as well.
Right now it is nine past nine.

Speaker 3 (02:46):
Jack Ta.

Speaker 2 (02:48):
In the mangle Munching forest. There's a nickel nackle tree
growing nickel nackleberries that are red as red can be.
I'll be very careful so as not to give up
the end. But would you believe it's been fifty years
since first those words were penned. That first sentence I
read you is from Linley Dodd Nickel Nackletree. So it's

(03:08):
a kid's counting book.

Speaker 3 (03:09):
That I reckon.

Speaker 2 (03:10):
It's kind of like a it's like a bit of
a Doctor Zusian take on New Zealand birds, right, So
it's a counting book, all these different birds sitting in
a tree. In the end, they all fall out, and
the birds are illustrated to look very much like some
rather familiar New Zealand birds, but with a bit of
a sort of Doctor Zusian twist. Anyway, The Nickel Nackletree

(03:31):
was first published in nineteen seventy six, So what was
that five decades ago? Next year. Truthfully, I don't think
I've opened The Nickel Nackletree since it was read to
me as a kid. But after our newborn son was
gifted a copy, it didn't take long to commit most
of The Nickel Nackletree to memory. My son can't crawl

(03:53):
or speak or catch himself when he topples over, but
he can put out his fat little hand and turn
the pages as we read. Linley Dodd enjoys a bit
of dominance at our place. We've got heaps of kids books,
but there's just something about the language of her stories

(04:15):
that gives them, you know, that extra degree, like that
extra edge. Whether it's Slinky Malinky or Zachary Quack or
a dragon in a wagon. Her rhyming is technically flawless.
The cadence has this kind of this kind of this
kind of perfect musical quality. If you've ever written a
poem and tried to perform it aloud, you might appreciate it.

(04:37):
But that flow is much harder to achieve than at
first you might think. And Linley Dodd's books use such
rich language. Jumbly rapscallion skadaddled, and I'm embarrassed to say
I didn't know this until my son was born. But
she illustrates her books herself, and she does a beautiful
job of all her work. Of course, Harry McCleary is

(05:01):
top of the pops. It's actually just amazing to me
how those stories can necked with different children from different backgrounds.
So when my friends in New York had a kid
five or six years ago, I sent them the complete
Harry McCleary, expecting that it would be discarded soon enough
for plastic monster trucks and iPads and big city things. Truthfully,

(05:25):
I thought Harry McClary might be a bit quaint for them,
or perhaps it might be lost in translation. After all,
America doesn't have dairies. But my friends and their son
loved it, and I mean, like really loved it. Today
their book has that wonderful, taped up, slightly tatty quality

(05:50):
of having been read hundreds and hundreds of times. And
that's the thing about children's books.

Speaker 4 (05:56):
Ah.

Speaker 2 (05:56):
They are designed to be, first of all, read aloud,
but they're also designed to be reread and reread and
reread again. And it takes a special kind of genius
to write a rereadable book that is still fun for
its reader to say aloud that doesn't drive its reader mad?
And then think about the impact that someone like Linley

(06:20):
Dodter has had, like the countless moments of joy that
she sparked. Is there anyone in New Zealand who couldn't
finish this sentence? Hercules moss as berg As, of course not,
I reckon. Children's story books are an art form for

(06:44):
which a lot of people grossly underestimate just how talented
you need to be in order to absolutely nail it
to write a classic, You know what I mean. It's
the sort of thing that, ah, yeah, seems easy enough,
but it's just far more complex than most of us imagine.
And I say art form quite deliberately, because finding a

(07:06):
blue this full blend of story, language and images, something
that delights children and adults, really is an art form.
And it's taken becoming a parent for me to properly
appreciate just how talented the best of the best really are.
If the current reading habits in our household are anything

(07:26):
to go by, I would put Dame Linley Dodd right
up there. Five decades since she started publishing, her books
haven't lost any of their magic. They delight my son
today as much as they delighted me when I was
a kid, they haven't lost a sintilla of relevance or appeal.
It's funny a how quality stands the test of time.

(07:50):
Jackdam ninety two. Ninety two is our text number if
you want to send us the message. This Morning Jacket,
Newstork's heb dot co dot nz is the email address.
Our feature interview after ten o'clock This Morning is also
focusing on art for kids. Jeremy read More was the
front man for Midnight Youth, who were like one of
the bigger Kiwi bands of my of my youth. He

(08:13):
went on to have a really successful solo career. He's
now traveling Europe helping out with Symphony in Europe. You
know that amazing that amazing stage show where they kind
of put distances dance music to all sorts of classics.
And now he has turned his attention to writing kids songs,
but their kids songs with a twist. So he's going
to be with us after ten o'clock to give us

(08:34):
a bit more detail about that. Kevin Milon is here next.
It's quarter past nine, It's Saturday morning. I'm Jack Tam
and this is news talk zed be.

Speaker 1 (08:42):
No better way to kick off your weekend than with Jack.
Saturday Morning with Jack Tam News Talks. V Here you go, Jack.

Speaker 2 (08:51):
I worked as a children's publisher here for many years,
had the pleasure of working with Dame Linley, and you
are one hundred percent correct. Everyone thinks they can write
a children's books and they simply can't. It's an art
form that's seriously underrated. You not only have to appeal
to the kids, but you also have to make it
clever enough to keep parents entertained after multiple readings. As
I'm sure you are discovering long live authors, says Vicky.

Speaker 3 (09:13):
Jack.

Speaker 2 (09:14):
I couldn't agree more, says Robin Slinky Milinkey Cat Flaps
has to be the absolute best. Love your work and Jack.
We have two grandchildren in France. They have the Hearing
mclary books and we read them together over FaceTime. They
have their copy, I have mine. It's absolute magic and
the first thing we will do together when they arrive
in November, says Pam. Oh, that's so nice. Pam ninety

(09:34):
two ninety two is our text number. If you want
to send us a message this morning, you can email
me as well. Jacknewstalks dB dot co dot n z
our Sporto is going to be here very shortly with
his thoughts on the second Leader's low tonight in Perth.
But first up, Kevin Milmes here to kick us off
for our Saturday to get their killed.

Speaker 5 (09:50):
To Kevin, Hello, Jack, you're you're an ambitious starpe Do
you deep down think that if you had the time,
you could write a pretty good children's book? I?

Speaker 2 (10:01):
Okay, here's the thing. I know that people overestimate their
own abilities. Right, So I have a few things that
are absurd that I know seem absurd to others, but
I still believe.

Speaker 3 (10:13):
So.

Speaker 2 (10:14):
For example, if I'm in the ocean, I believe that
I have the strength to swim to any land mass
I can see. So if I'm twenty kilometers from a
land mass in the ocean, I think, you know what,
if push came to shove, I could make it. That's
my first one. My second one. You know how they

(10:34):
think that men overestimate their abilities to land a commercial
jet liner. I think that in an emergency, with the
instruction from air traffic control, I could land a commercial
jet Now. I know that seems absurd, but I still
think I can do it.

Speaker 5 (10:50):
My third single one doesn't seem Yeah, that second one
doesn't seem absurd to me in your case, but to me.

Speaker 2 (10:57):
No, it's definitely absurd. There's no way we could do it.
The third one is that every time I go to
the zoo, I look at a cheetah and I think,
you know what, I couldn't outrun that thing, but I
could beat it in a five. It's much smaller. It's
much smaller than I was, like, you know what, a lion, yep,
that's going to be hard. A tiger that looks pretty powerful,
but a cheatah is just a slightly bigger cat, very skinny.

(11:18):
I'm like, one blow and that thing's done, you know.
So those are my three really absurd things. But I
think I ad a fourth, and that is that I think,
oh yeah, ha ha, could it be to write it
like a children's book that sells ten million copies worldwide?
I think it's way, way, way harder than most of
us appreciate. That's my take.

Speaker 4 (11:36):
Yeah, yeah, I'm sure you're right.

Speaker 5 (11:38):
So, although I've always thought that if I could, it
wouldn't be easy, of course, but I think that if
I really set myself the task I'd love to do it.
I think half of it would be to find somebody
who could do great illustrations. I did find a superb art,
this one who agreed with me. I don't think it

(11:59):
would have happened, but he agreed he would do the
artwork if I write the script.

Speaker 4 (12:04):
And I wish i'd done of course now, but.

Speaker 2 (12:10):
Not too late, never too late? Why not?

Speaker 6 (12:14):
Yeah?

Speaker 5 (12:14):
My other thing is I reckon I could record a
pop song and.

Speaker 2 (12:22):
Never too late. Well, look, Paul Holmes released an album,
so why not?

Speaker 4 (12:25):
Yeah, that's right.

Speaker 2 (12:27):
Anyway you were, you were casting your mind forward as
the last week, of course of the local elections campaign,
and you've been thumbing through your local candidates book and
getting to know the candidates.

Speaker 5 (12:39):
I wonder at local election times how critical the photos
of candidates becoming the final result. Let's face that not
many voters do much research into candidates. It's certainly in
the local elections, which leads many to make ridiculous decisions.
I probably put them myself from this sometimes based just
on their photos. Is this candidate attractive? Does that one

(13:02):
look intelligent? It'd be interesting after the elections to match
up successful candidates with how appealing their photographs were and
see if there's a link. On the other hand, it
does astonish me how some candidates put no effort whatsoever
into getting a decent photio taken of themselves. A selfie

(13:22):
in the shadows will do, goofy grin. What are they thinking.
I've got a local electioneering story, Jack, I'd love to
tell you. It goes back about twenty years when I
was on the Telly every week fronting a huge rating
consumer show. Our local mayor, whose surname also happened to
be Milne, Sam's mine, was running for a reelection. His

(13:44):
team had erected hundreds of election signs all over town.
They had no photo, but simply said Milne for Mayor. Unwisely,
these signs were erected before nomination for mayor had closed.
It was an awful trick to play, Jack, but I
couldn't resist it. I wrung up the mayor and I said,
Kevin Milne here, Allen, I should let you know I've

(14:07):
decided to run for mayor. There was silence. The sight
of hundreds of Miln for Mayor signs working just as
well for me as for him, must have passed in
front of his eyes. I didn't let him suffer for long,
just getting.

Speaker 4 (14:24):
Yell and you're you're the man for the job. Good luck.
And he took it well.

Speaker 5 (14:28):
In fact, promised to keep a spare miln for mayor
signed for me and his garage regressively. I forgot to
pick it up. There's just a little story. It always
makes me smile that.

Speaker 2 (14:39):
You tell you what, you get some real characters for
the local body elections as well, Like you say that
the budgets for the electioneering don't extend to what they
might and say a national election or something like that.
And yeah, I'm always amazed too. And the thing is,
I mean, it's it's actually a great sign for democracy
that all of these, all all the characters who come

(15:01):
and come would work and put themselves forward for various things.
I always think, oh, okay.

Speaker 4 (15:05):
There you go.

Speaker 2 (15:06):
Very God, it's great that we've got a system that
allows these people to put themselves forward a public office.
And yeah, even if they're not prepared to take a
photo that's in focus or anything like that, and then hopefully.

Speaker 5 (15:16):
Yeah, we don't insist that they have to do your
hair before you get your taken.

Speaker 2 (15:21):
Yeah, no, I totally agree. Hey, thanks, so much Kevin.
You have a great weekend and we will catch you
again very soon. Thank you so much for your text
and emails this morning. Hey, so they come through a
Dean Forli me an email is Dean so often does
on Saturday mornings to say Jack, good morning. Great children's
literature spans many generations and helps build the connections of society.
It's one of the reasons the old English nursery rhymes

(15:43):
have survived through the centuries. Yeah, that's a really good
point things Jean only two ninety two is the text
number if you want to send us some message, which
you can email me like Dean did. Jacket Newstalks headb
dot co dot n said before ten o'clock, if you
are looking forward, if you're looking for a scrummy little
dinner recipe, something super easy and something light on the meat,
or something that has no meat, We've got the perfect

(16:05):
little option for you. A mushroom MCANALONEI recipe is what
our cook is bringing to us this morning, so we'll
share that before ten o'clock. Right now, it's twenty five
past nine. Our Sporto is in.

Speaker 1 (16:15):
Next getting your weekends started. It's Saturday morning with Jack
Team on News Talks EDB.

Speaker 2 (16:25):
Twenty eight past nine on News Talks EDB. The All
Blacks Test against the Wallabies is in Perth this evening.
Of course, Second Bleeders Low after that relatively strong performance
last week, although still some injury concerns for the All Blacks.
Our Sporto Andrew Savill is here and before we get
into the game itself, sav can I just have a
big wingch on behalf of all sports fans to say,

(16:46):
who the hell did the scheduling for the Rugby Championship
this year? So we have had, let's just beak here,
We've had the All Backs clashing with the Warriors, We've
had the Bleeders Low clashing with the AFL Grand Final,
and now we've got the Second Bleeders Low being paid
in Perth with kickoff at ten five pm when they
could have played an afternoon game which would have presumably

(17:09):
kept all of the kiwis and rugby fans and per
perfectly happy, but also allowed the rest of us to
watch it. But they even have a really late.

Speaker 7 (17:15):
Night and it would have allowed the Australian Eastern seaboard,
not the rugby unions as big as League or AFL
in that area, but it would have allowed better viewing
time too. I don't know's it is ten forty five,
will you You.

Speaker 3 (17:30):
Might have to go home for a little.

Speaker 7 (17:31):
Map later and get up at ten forty five, will
will you?

Speaker 8 (17:35):
Well?

Speaker 2 (17:36):
Yeah, I mean i'd probably I'll probably be up. Some
of us, of course, are going to be grafting away
in the office tomorrow morning at six am. You know,
some of us of course, yes, of course own you
even miss an episode, but so yes that that sort
of looms over me a little bit. But it's just
I don't know. It just feels like did anyone, like,
do these sports talk to each other? Do they? Did anyone?

(17:58):
Did anyone just get out? Or maybe actually or maybe
that's not the best time?

Speaker 7 (18:03):
No, clear, clear, clearly not. The thing about this jack
is that if the All Blacks win, they still won't
win the championship just yet. They've still got to wait
until the spring Box play Argentina in London, of all places,
at Twickenham, it's Argentina's home game. If you like that,

(18:24):
descided to take it to London make a bit more coin.
So the South Africans are really in the box seat.
I mean they thumped the Argentinians last week by forty
fifty points, so it would be a major surprise if
the South Africans don't beat Argentina up there and then
win the Rugby Championship for the for the second year
in a role. I think that's the first time they've
ever done that. But looking to this All Blacks game,

(18:45):
I'm really intrigued.

Speaker 3 (18:46):
By three player selections.

Speaker 7 (18:48):
Peter Lackeye at number eight, Quintu Pire at thirteen unless
defying a new coup at eleven. Like I hasn't had
a lot of starts in his very young All Black career,
but clearly after some ball running, they clearly want to
have a look at him. Wallas the Titi, I think
played well, but I think he needs a bit more football.

(19:08):
It's a little bit surprising in this selection quin Tupire.
I thought they might have stuck with Billy Procter again
to give him another game with Jordy Barrett. But Jupie
has definitely played really well when he's come off the
bench the last few Test matches, so he deserves to start.
I don't think he's played a heck of a lot
of center in his first class career, but he's in form.

Speaker 2 (19:34):
Defense right these days.

Speaker 4 (19:35):
Yeah, definitely does.

Speaker 7 (19:36):
It's a tricky position to play and he is sort
of marking Joseph su Ali, so that's a big, big
challenge in itself. Leicesterifying an Uku on the left wing
his All Blacks return, I thought the selectors were viewing
him more as a midfielder, so this is a little
bit surprising. But he's he's played well for Tasman since

(19:59):
he returned. He's he's bulked up a bit. He's always
been a good all round footballer on his feet in
the year, so I think Caleb Clark, if he had
a being fit he would have he would have played
this game. The other thing Jack overall is that let's
not forget the Wallabies could have easily have won on
Eden Park last week. They had forty percent of the

(20:20):
ball and they copped a few rough officiating calls, I think,
especially around the breakdown. So I certainly wouldn't count the
Wallabies out tonight. The All Blacks need to win to
gain some sort of consistency. It's been a very updown
year like last year. They just they just need to

(20:42):
prove to themselves and everybody else that they can win
games in a row before heading up north to Chicago
first and foremost in a few weeks time.

Speaker 2 (20:51):
Yeah, so it's five forty five pm local time, someone
says to me. They go on to daylight saving tomorrow
later tonight, don't they? So okay and.

Speaker 7 (21:03):
Speaking, which is quickly the NRL Grand Final day to row.
The Warriors reserve graders take on the Queensland Cup champs
the Burly Bars near the Gold Coast in Sydney. What
a thrill for some of these players. Three twenty kickoff
tomorrow afternoon our time, So much easier watch for a

(21:24):
lot of people. But that would be that would be
quite a coup for the Warriors to win that reserve
grade title against the other New South Wales champs against
the Queensland champs. So three twenty tomorrow in our old
Grand Final day always a big, big day for a
lot of kiwi's. Hopefully in the future, speaking of scheduling,
hopefully there's a real big push in Australia to get

(21:44):
the Grand Final back to an afternoon kickoff like the AFL.
So I think they would please a lot of kiwi's
in the future if it went back to that afternoon kickoff.

Speaker 4 (21:53):
Much easier watch than late late at night. Totally agree.

Speaker 2 (21:56):
Have you listened to Talis Swift's new album yet?

Speaker 3 (21:58):
No?

Speaker 4 (21:58):
I haven't, Jack huh and I've got no.

Speaker 3 (22:03):
Pies.

Speaker 4 (22:05):
Yeah, I'm watching the here today.

Speaker 3 (22:07):
No I No, I haven't.

Speaker 4 (22:08):
Is it good?

Speaker 8 (22:09):
M same?

Speaker 2 (22:12):
I feel a bit underwhelmed, like is she running out
of ideas?

Speaker 9 (22:17):
Well?

Speaker 2 (22:17):
I don't know. She's not running out of money, that's
not an issue. I mean it's broken all of the
streaming records predictably. I mean it is amazing, Like to
kind of observe the phenomenon of a pop star who's
that big, right, it is pretty amazing, and I certainly
don't resent her for it. It's not my cup of
tea probably most of the time. But they're being said,
I went into it very open minded. Actually just reckon.

(22:39):
It's a bit low energy, that album. It's sort of
a bit, yeah, sort of meander's a bit. But anyway,
we're gonna we're gonna listen to it a bit this morning,
given it's going to be everywhere.

Speaker 7 (22:47):
She's extremely talented, there's no doubt about that.

Speaker 2 (22:49):
Yes, and each to their own, but yeah, yes, very good.
I enjoy the game this evening appreciate your time our
Sporto Andrew Savill don't forget, of course News Talks he
Be is going to have a live commentary with the
All Blacks versus the Wallabes the second Bleeder's Low from Perth.
Here on News Talks. Heed b Elliott Smith will have
the call from Perth for us this evening, Jack West
Australia doesn't have daylight saving time. No, he's talking about

(23:10):
the Eastern States, although Queensland doesn't have it either. I
don't think do they. She said that weird thing where
you can have New Year's Eve twice, so you can
be on the border between New South Wales and Queensland
and you can have you can have New Year's Eve
and then you can step over the border and have
it again an hour later.

Speaker 4 (23:26):
So there you go.

Speaker 2 (23:26):
Twenty five to ten, you're with Jack Tame. This is
News Talks, he'd be. That's nice ey a little bit Sparks.

(23:49):
I recognize the voice, friend of the show Big Wronger.
It's called It's Like Summertime. It's a new song from her.
I think she's writing an album, producing an album. It's
going to be released relatively soon. So very nice to
get some new Kiwi music to our ears, amongst the
Taylor swift mania that has been unleashed upon the world

(24:09):
twenty two to ten on Newstiks, you'd be thanks to
your text, Jack. I've just sent Slinky Malinky to my
grandson in Japan, says MASSI A nice work. My favorite kids.
Lindley Dodd book was My cat likes to hide in boxes.
It has so much tape on it, says. So it's
funny how those books they sort of you they take
on another quality are when they've been they've been read
so many times and they're a bit tatty in the

(24:29):
corners are all kind of you know, dogg yeared and yeah,
you've got little bits of tape holding things together. It's
a real it's like a sign of love. Strangely, enough
time to get your film picks for this weekend. Francesca
Rudkin is our film reviewer. She's got two movies to
tell us about. More than a good morning. I'm looking
forward to your thoughts on this first one, This Morning
starring The Rock. This is something a little bit different

(24:52):
from Dwayne Johnson. This is the Smashing Machine.

Speaker 10 (24:58):
Well, have you ever heard of the Ultimate Fighting Championship
the UFC.

Speaker 11 (25:04):
That's the bloody thing they're trying to be.

Speaker 12 (25:06):
Do you hate each other when you fight?

Speaker 4 (25:09):
Absolutely not.

Speaker 2 (25:13):
Right, that's the smashing machine. Tell us about it, Francisca.

Speaker 12 (25:16):
So this is by Bennie Safti, who often works with
his brother. He's a director who is responsible for Uncut Gems,
which puts sort of Adam Sandler in a role, but
we didn't really kind of expect to see him in
as well.

Speaker 6 (25:28):
So he's very good at kind of doing.

Speaker 12 (25:30):
The unexpected a little bit in films, and this is
a sports film which does do things a little bit differently.
It's very much an observational film rather than immersive. Like
a lot of the times when we have stories about
sports people they.

Speaker 6 (25:42):
Want to bring us into their lives, take us into the.

Speaker 12 (25:44):
Sport and even just a lot of the time when
you're watching the fighting scenes which are really great in
this film, they're from outside of the ring or up above,
like we sort of almost view it like a fan
and really great soundtrack. Film only covers a few years
from nineteen ninety seven onwards, and it's a story of

(26:04):
Mark Kerr, who is not a very well known but
was kind of one of the first gig mma USC
fighters an American. He made this huge contribution kind of
to the sport and things. This is actually based on
a documentary about Mark Kurdit was released in two thousand
and two, something very very close to Dane Johnson's heart.

(26:26):
He'd wanted to kind of make this film and it
is a big step in a different direction for him.
This is very much a dramatic role compared to the
normal action comedy films which we see him in often.
And he's had a lot of help getting into this
character thanks to hair and makeup. They've done twenty two prosthetics.
They've kind of changed the way he looks and that's

(26:49):
contributed to him, how you know, sort of disappearing into
the role of it, because when you look like the Rock,
it's kind of hard to disappear. And of course he's
picked a film which is in his wheelhouse. It is
about fighting, it's about wrestling, it's kind of the world
that he's come from, and I think that that was
a really sensible move for him if he wants to
step into a dramatic role. There is a lot of
hype around this performance about this being a great performance.

(27:11):
Jack and I wonder whether people are a little confused
that by doing something different, they've equated that to it
being a great performance, rather than looking at the performance itself,
which is good. But I did see him acting at
times and I was just like, this is really good.

Speaker 13 (27:27):
He can do this.

Speaker 12 (27:28):
He absolutely has the confidence.

Speaker 6 (27:29):
To do more dramatic roles.

Speaker 12 (27:30):
But I'm not sure it's great anyway. Emily Blunt is
worth come and she is absolutely fantastic.

Speaker 6 (27:36):
It's basically the story.

Speaker 12 (27:37):
This is a period of time when there aren't a
lot of regulations. The fighting is pretty brutal, the bodies
get beaten up quite badly. He takes some opioids to
prevent it, gets a bit addicted, has quite a trox
of relation with his girlfriend, and kind of comes out
the other side. Not actually a hugely complicated sports story,
It's quite a familiar sort of story. And all I

(27:59):
could think of when I was watching this was what
about Mark Hunt? New Zealanders. If you actually do want
an MMA, you know you receive story, then Matt the
story about New Zealand and Mark Hunt and the documentary
that was made The Fight of his life. Now that
is a story about overcoming adversity and complexities and things
like that, and that was just always in the back

(28:20):
of my mind.

Speaker 6 (28:21):
So look, yep, it's really good.

Speaker 14 (28:23):
I think.

Speaker 12 (28:23):
You know, I'm not a huge usc MMA fan. I'm
not really interested watching men smack each other in the
face and head repeatedly. So you know, I went out
of curiosity to see these people in these roles.

Speaker 6 (28:35):
I think if you're probably interested.

Speaker 12 (28:37):
In the sport, that it might hold a little bit
more appeal.

Speaker 2 (28:39):
Fair enough. Yeah, no, that's that's two of us on
that front. That's the Slashing Machine starring the Rock. It
does look at the very least looks interesting, and you
know what, that's good. I thought Uncut Gems was just
like one of the best films of the last few years.
So he really difficult to watch. You don't want to
watch that just before you got to be because it's
st of like, oh I feel really anxious. Great, we've

(28:59):
got the film for you. But this is a bit slower.

Speaker 12 (29:03):
Yeah nice, Yeah, no, I love the way it's been made.

Speaker 6 (29:06):
It's good.

Speaker 2 (29:07):
It's good, very good. So that's the Smashing Machine that's
showing in cinemas right now. Something completely different. The teacher
who promised the sea.

Speaker 10 (29:15):
See.

Speaker 12 (29:15):
This is a Spanish film and it's based on a
true story and it kicks off in the present when
a mass grave is discovered from the Spanish Civil War.
It's unearthed, and there is a woman who has been
trying to find her great grandfather for her grandfather who
is not doing so well, and so she's sort of
been on this mission to try and find what happened

(29:36):
to him and how he went missing during the war,
and he's thought to be in this area. So she's
contacted by the team who have unearthed this mass grave,
and she's brought down to the area and she starts
to meet locals who can remember her grandfather. And also
this teacher who came to their small village and took
him in and looked after him because his father had

(29:57):
been taken. And so we sort of learn about this
gorgeous man, this teacher who wanted his children to be
wanted his students to be curious, and he wanted them
to be children in this very difficult time, you know,
instead of going working on farms, he wanted them to
to to learn and things. And but he was very

(30:18):
outspoken about the right wing regime. So look, this is
a It's one of those sort of bit of sweet
stories because it's really beautiful and it reflects the country
coming to grips with its past. I mean, there are
a lot of people all over Spain who are still
trying to work out what happened to their loved ones.
But there it's also got this very respectful it's solemn

(30:39):
and it's got a sadness to it, but it is
also lovely to see this impact, how this impact actually
lingered on the students. And it's interesting some will do
not want to hold onto those memories because of guilt
and other issues. Other people celebrate and remember him for
who he was. So pretty fascinating, that lovely little story.

Speaker 2 (30:59):
Okay, cool, well, you certainly give us a range this morning.
So that's the teacher who promised the Sea that's showing
in cinemas too. That's a Spanish film, and The Smashing
Machine is the one starring the Rock. All of the
details for those movies will be up on the News
talks 'b website. We're back in a couple of minutes.
Our cook's here with her recipe for the week. It's
mushroom canaloney. Quarter to ten on News Talks EDB.

Speaker 1 (31:22):
Saturday morning with Jack team keeping the conversation going through
the weekend news talks EDB.

Speaker 2 (31:29):
Food time on News Talks EDB cook is neck, he works.
She's here with her recipe for the Weeklder cured a Jack.

Speaker 11 (31:36):
Yes, an't you from Danedin?

Speaker 10 (31:37):
Oh?

Speaker 2 (31:38):
Yes, of course, por Charmers right, I'm still your por charmer.

Speaker 11 (31:41):
Seafood Festival. Still it'll be great, Yeah, it'll be great.
But also talking to you not about seafood Day, about
I don't know if you realize that October is officially
the World Vegetarian.

Speaker 2 (31:51):
Day, should time I would be lying if I put
it on my calendar, which is not that I have
any problem with vegetarian more for it, you do you,
but I just yeah, you know my thing, I've seen
it to you before. There's there's a day, a week,
a month, a thing for everything, you know.

Speaker 11 (32:07):
I know, And the best made of you that I
think is just that it might give you some encouragement
to go, Yeah, you know what I've been meaning to
be to eat more vegetables in my life, you know,
And so this is a good time to try it.

Speaker 15 (32:19):
Try it for a week, try it for.

Speaker 11 (32:20):
A months, see what you think. You know, yeah, and
so this is a mushroom and spinach canaloni. Because I
also think when the price of living is sky high
and people are rightfully so about that, you know, taking
some of those meat proteins out of your diet can
really reduce the food shopping bills. So those of you

(32:41):
listening who perhaps are thinking, you know, you go along
to the supermarket and you stock up on your chicken,
and you're this, and you're that, maybe just crazily try
leaving all of those things out of your trolley for
one week and instead popping in things like some cans
of beans, which can be delicious, and lentils and mushrooms.
They don't have much protein in them, but there you go,

(33:03):
and some grains and make this really beautiful. It's loaded,
it's cheesy, it's yummy, and you'll be surprised how cheap
your bill is. Look oven goes on one eighty degrees.
Are this is for one I am this is one serving.

Speaker 15 (33:16):
Double it if you want.

Speaker 11 (33:17):
It's a generous serving. But it's just if you're out
there thinking, yeah, I need to mix things up a
little bit. Grease are a small ovenproof dish that will
fit to your lovely little canaloney. And here I am
using four pasta tubes, four canaloni tubes. So make the
filling by heating some oil in a pan and cooking
off the onions. I've got a small onion here, dice,

(33:38):
and one large portobello mushroom because they go a long way.
Chop those off roughly but kind of finely, and fry
that off on the oil. And they to take a
little while, three to four minutes something like that. Mushroom
is what happens when you cook them as they release
their juices and then they soak them back up. So
wait till that's happened. Pour in half a can of
crushed tomatoes or fresh tomatoes, and season half a teaspoon

(34:00):
of dried thyme, half a can of lentils.

Speaker 2 (34:03):
And before you.

Speaker 11 (34:03):
Start groaning and going, oh lens, lentils are great. They
in a dish like this, they really do the job
of say, minced beef or minced dam. They give that
same text to their great I love them and packed
full of protein and goodness. And so pop those into
the pan. Pop in one cup of shredded spinach. So
there's your iron, some of your iron. Cover it until

(34:25):
the spinach is wilted, and then remove from the heat
and it we'll have all thickened up a little bit
by that stage. And then what I do to fill
my little canaloni is, rather than trying to sort of
spoon it into them, I kind of stamp my tubes
into the filling so that it fills up to halfway
one end. Flip it over do it the other end,
so and it's kind of fun. Fill both ends right
to the middle. Lay those tubes in your lovely prepared dish,

(34:47):
and then loosen the left over filling with a splash
or two of water and pour that around your canaloney
as well. And then no cheese sauce required, because honestly,
that's a ball to make from scratch. So I instead
use a third of a cup of cream fresh, third
of a cup of liquid stock, and a third of
a cup of grated cheese. So we're talking, oh beautiful,
delicious cheesiness. Whisk that up, Pour that over your pasta

(35:10):
your pasta tubes, cover it with foil, bake it for
about thirty minutes. Jack that'll soften and cook those that canalone.
Uncover it. Sprinkle over a little bit more cheese possibly
or not, and cook it for a further ten to
fifteen minutes and it'll be golden and bubbling, the pasta
will be tender, that filling will be piping hot, and
it's absolutely satisfying and delicious. So that's you know, because

(35:31):
I one of the common questions I get from people is,
you know it really is, Oh my goodness. You know,
I'd like to do a bit more plant based eating,
but I don't know.

Speaker 3 (35:41):
What to do.

Speaker 11 (35:41):
And I'm I'm really a fan of still eating whole food,
so you know, I know there's a lot of sort
of meat substitutes.

Speaker 10 (35:49):
In these days.

Speaker 11 (35:51):
To me, that's just it's a lot of processed food.
So stick to the whole foods, sticking vegetables. You'll be
you know, you'll be helping your insides.

Speaker 16 (36:00):
No end.

Speaker 11 (36:01):
Colon cancer is on the rise, and that is probably
largely due to a reduction in the amount of fiber
that we're all eating. And fiber comes in terms of beans, vegetables,
some good grains and that kind of thing, lentol. So
get into it, you'll love it.

Speaker 2 (36:17):
Yeah, I'm with you. So what we do in our
house is we we're just trying to have a couple
of days a week without meat, and we're not really like,
you know, like super strict about it. If we end
up having meat, it's not the end of the world.
But you know, like like the last night we had
dahl and I made you know, we had a couple
of rota and things and we sell it, you know,
like you do that, but then you have whatever, you
have pork bones tonight before you know, it's all about balance,

(36:41):
and it's all about balance.

Speaker 11 (36:42):
It's all about balance. It is absolutely all about balance.
And you know my recommendation if you're serving us up
to somebody who doesn't, just don't mention the word vegetaria.

Speaker 1 (36:50):
Yeah.

Speaker 11 (36:50):
Yeah, that's so we're having canaloney tonight.

Speaker 2 (36:52):
They have beautiful Okay, Hey, thank you so much. Enjoy
being in Port Charmers. We'll catch you again next Saturday morning.
Nikki's mushroom canaloney recipe will be at Newstalks be dot
co dot nz Ford slash Jack so you'll be able
to be able to make a at home as well.
Right now, it's seven to ten.

Speaker 1 (37:09):
Using you the inside scoop on the ball you need
to know On Saturday Morning with Jack dam News Talks
at the OH.

Speaker 2 (37:16):
I've been a sad news out of the UK this morning.
Dame Patricia Rutledge has died aged ninety six. You will
know her as Hyacinth Bucket or Hyacinth Bouquet. I feel
like I grew up with keeping up appearances on at
our Place, you know, that amazing British sitcom early nineties,
and she was, of course Hyacinth, the main protagonist, the

(37:41):
snobbish Hyacinth Bouquet. She liked to pronounce it Onslow. Was
the great character in that show, wasn't it Onslow? Anyway?
Our Dame Patricia Rutledge was ninety six. Her agency this
morning were deeply saving to confirm the passing of Dame
Patricia Rutlig, who died peacefully in her sleep, surrounded by love.
Her passion for her work and connecting with live audiences
never waned, just as new generations of audiences have continued

(38:04):
to find her through her beloved television roles. So that's
a nice comment. After ten o'clock this morning, we're going
to tell you about some slightly more modern shows. Three
fantastic shows to recommend in our screen Time segment, including
this new documentary about Billy Joel. It sounds really interesting,
quite intimate, so we'll give you the details on that
very shortly as well as that our feature interview. The

(38:27):
former front man of Midnight Youth, Jeremy read Moore, has
built his own very successful solo career, but now he's
turning his attention to kids music. It is very different
but also a little bit scientific. So Jeremy is going
to join us right after the ten o'clock news News
is next. Though it's almost ten o'clock, it's Saturday morning.
I'm Jack dam and this is News Talk Zed.

Speaker 1 (38:48):
Be cracking way to start his Saturday Saturday morning with
Jack Tam News Talk ZEDV.

Speaker 10 (39:08):
Feeling Blue.

Speaker 3 (39:12):
Us one thing.

Speaker 10 (39:16):
You can too.

Speaker 17 (39:19):
Just move, Just move.

Speaker 2 (39:30):
Feeling dag that is just moved and I get it.
The beat, the rhythm, the style, the call and answer
might throw you off, but you probably know Jeremy read
More from the rock band Midnight Youth. Jeremy had a
great time with Midnight Youth, had a great time as

(39:50):
a solo artist, but now is going through a bit
of a creative evolution, turning his attention to children's music.
But this is not sugar rush pop with cartoon voices. No, no,
we are all going to be spared the Crazy Frog.
It's music that has narrative and it is surprisingly emotional.
Jeremy read Moore's with us this morning.

Speaker 18 (40:10):
Killed a good morning, mordaner Jack, How are you ah
so good?

Speaker 3 (40:14):
Thanks?

Speaker 2 (40:14):
Not as good as you though we have pulled you
out of a dive bar. And Budapest this morning, of
all places, paid us a picture.

Speaker 17 (40:22):
It's the Dives of all Divius Bars.

Speaker 9 (40:24):
It's probably about about seven dive bars rolled into one
in the middle of Budapest. And I was thoroughly distracted
by I mean every inch of every wall is covered
in graffiti of all kinds of offensive things, so it's
it was very distracting.

Speaker 2 (40:42):
No, that's good. Is it one of those places where
that you can't touch any surface because it's so sticky
and like unclean and unhygienic that if you, if you like,
put your hand down, you'll never be able to peel
it off the bar itself.

Speaker 3 (40:56):
Well, let's be.

Speaker 18 (40:57):
Fair to them.

Speaker 9 (40:57):
I mean I think psychologically, yes, physically, it's less sicky
than I would have expected.

Speaker 2 (41:03):
Okay, okay, that sounds great. Well, I'm deeply envious this
morn and it is quite a transition from your latest
body of work, which is itself quite a transition from
what you've been doing. I mean, this is this is
really something quite different. So tell us what got you
into writing kids music?

Speaker 18 (41:21):
I mean, long story, short.

Speaker 9 (41:25):
COVID in a way, because I was already writing a
picture book about the superpowers that can be found in singing. Basically,
you know how kids can find a sense of identity
through singing and the energy that goes into sort of
projecting yourself as a singer.

Speaker 18 (41:42):
Which is the story of my adult life.

Speaker 9 (41:46):
So I wrote this picture book released that there was
a song about singing, a book about singing, so I
had to have a song.

Speaker 18 (41:51):
I did the song, and I really enjoyed releasing kids music.

Speaker 9 (41:56):
But then as part of the promotion, I kind of
started looking into the science behind singing and going, hang on,
is it just me that thinks this is a superpower
or is there more to this? And I started looking
into all of this very thorough research from all around
the world, and it turns out there's all of this
amazing stuff that happens when kids sing and adults sing

(42:17):
as well, but especially when people sing in groups. And
so I had the opportunity to record an album of songs,
and I thought, hey, look, let's make this really intentional
and create songs with music videos that really allow kids
to easily sing with these songs, and preferably sing in groups,

(42:40):
because that's actually where so much of the magic happens.
And you know, if you look back into in culture
for thousands of years, group singing is this magic thing.

Speaker 2 (42:50):
It is so yeah, I think like I even think
back to like, you know, I was. This is not
going to come as a huge shock to many people,
but I was a bit of a theater kid at school.
I was a bit of a music kid. I may
have even competed in various barbershop competitions over the years.
But there is there's something, you know what it is
that there's something kind of primal about it, strangely about

(43:12):
you know, us being social beings, right, there is something
about using our voices together, especially in harmony or something
like that, that triggers something deep inside us.

Speaker 9 (43:24):
That's right, human ritual religion. It goes back thousands of
years people chanting and singing together. And what happens is
the science is showing that brain activity synchronizes and when
that happens. We almost feel like we're a super organism.
We're one super organism, and so that creates the sense
of connection. And that is what those groups were tapping

(43:46):
into and what we can if we intentionally create the situation.

Speaker 18 (43:51):
We can tap into that situation for kids.

Speaker 9 (43:52):
And when I think about a classroom of young kids
and all the little cliques and the you know, the
cool kids, the nerdy kids, the outcasts, if they can
have three to six minutes of feeling connected in a day,
I mean, that's that's magic, right.

Speaker 2 (44:09):
Yeah, yeah, absolutely, So just Move is your first single
from sing Along the Size? Tell us, Yes, tell us
about the difference given you've I mean you've you've written
as part of Midnight Youth, You've written stuff for your
solo work. But how different is it to go about
purposefully writing a song for children? Do you have fewer

(44:31):
minor chords? Like, how does it?

Speaker 3 (44:33):
You know?

Speaker 2 (44:33):
Fewer diminished chords? Is everything in the key of A
and nice and sonny?

Speaker 9 (44:40):
Well, the key does come into it because it's have
very high voices. So this album has me singing very
high because I want them to be able to sing
along easily. So there is actually a sort of window
of a key that you have to stick to for
kids to be able to broadly sing along with these songs.

(45:01):
But otherwise, you know, it's about for me, they're just
pop songs. Yeah, So I've brought in my experience as
a songwriter to creating pop songs. The thing that's different
is I want these songs to be very, very interactive,
So they're interactive in the music recording, but interactive also
in the music video and the recording.

Speaker 18 (45:21):
It's all about the sing along part.

Speaker 9 (45:23):
So almost every singing section is call and response, So
I sing you think of that for that Freddie Mercury
at Live Aid, you know, yeah, and the crowd goes
back and forth.

Speaker 18 (45:35):
And it's an incredible moment. I wanted that within the song.

Speaker 9 (45:39):
And then the extra thing is the music videos feature
a stop motion puppet called Milo who's a kind of
a Marsupi or mousey little character, and they do physical
actions hopping, skipping, eating peanut butter, these things that kids
can all again do in unison as a movement in

(46:00):
non singing parts. So the songs are structured. We all
sing together, then we move together, and it's all to
try and pack in as much of that synchrony as possible.

Speaker 19 (46:14):
Yeah, that makes a.

Speaker 2 (46:15):
Lot of sense. So do you like, do you see
this sing along size being performed in schools and that
kind of thing, like, is that is that we you're
envisaging this?

Speaker 9 (46:26):
Absolutely, I want teachers to be able to put this
on to start the day or as a brain break,
or and as well families. You know, maybe maybe you've
just noticed the kids have just just zoned out for
a few hours and you're like, hey, well, what's something
that we can put on to get them energized. And
it's a screen, so it's it's you know, it's yeah,
it's attractive for a kid, but it's healthy screen time

(46:47):
because they're expressing themselves, they're singing, they're moving, they're getting
a bit of health along with just having some fun.

Speaker 18 (46:54):
So that's the idea.

Speaker 9 (46:55):
And definitely I'm taking it to a whole bunch of
schools in the Upper North Island next month and.

Speaker 18 (47:04):
And I'm really looking forward to hundreds of kids doing
this all together. It be amazing.

Speaker 2 (47:07):
That's a great idea. So do you remember, like when
you were at school, do you remember what songs they
used to sing when you're at school?

Speaker 18 (47:14):
I do because they were all church songs.

Speaker 9 (47:17):
I went to a Catholic primary school and we would
all sing the same songs every every week. And I
do remember bonding with my friends while singing those songs,
even if we were joking around during them. There's something
about it, and you know I've written about it. Even
you go to an all Blacks game and you and

(47:37):
you sing the anthem and you look around you and
for those for those four minutes, you're all just feel
this this pride and this connection and then you see
the ultimate, the ultimate version of it, which is the huker,
which is singing and moving together.

Speaker 18 (47:55):
Yeah, it's a very good point version of what I'm
talking about.

Speaker 4 (47:57):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (47:58):
So, given you've taken quite a scientific approach to this,
have you tried it out on kids?

Speaker 18 (48:04):
Absolutely?

Speaker 9 (48:04):
I haven't. I haven't put brain imagery imagering devices on
their mind, on their heads. Levels of joy and levels
of joy are really really high. And it works on
adults too. So we're looking we're looking pretty good at
this point, but you know it's a at this point,

(48:26):
we need to take it to a whole bunch of schools,
a whole bunch of kids, and and really get as
much feedback to refine it as we go forward.

Speaker 17 (48:35):
But I think we've We've released one song so far,
and the.

Speaker 9 (48:41):
Reaction I've had so far is just yeah, I'm getting
so many wonderful messages, so yeah, I can't complain.

Speaker 2 (48:48):
Hey, you're you're based in the Netherlands these days, I am.

Speaker 9 (48:53):
I'm in a city called Utrecht, which is hard to say,
but it's a it's a little mini version of Amsterdam.

Speaker 18 (48:58):
It's beautiful place.

Speaker 2 (48:59):
Ah, how good? So how are you finding life in Europe?

Speaker 18 (49:04):
It's it's nice.

Speaker 9 (49:07):
I think any immigrant story is tricky, especially when you
move to a country with a different native language.

Speaker 18 (49:14):
And I didn't move here for opportunity. It was very
much to support family and be with family.

Speaker 9 (49:20):
So I moved here with no idea what I was doing,
had zero connections, zero network, and you had to make
something happen. And it's a huge challenge and I can't
pretend that the fact that it's been really hard. But
at the same time, it's a place for opportunity, a
place for self discovery and growth, and I just feel
like I've grown so much in the last few years
and this album and the intention and meaning behind these

(49:45):
songs is part of that, because I think this kind
of situation refines you as a person and refines you
as an artist, and for me, this is a kind
of refined version of kids music for me.

Speaker 2 (49:59):
Anyway, before we let you go, I've got to ask,
given it's been out for or what sixteen hour now,
have you listened to any of the new Taylor Swift album?
Do you have any thoughts?

Speaker 17 (50:11):
May I have been just diving into Budapest. It's my
first day here, and can.

Speaker 2 (50:17):
I just say thank goodness that you've prioritized that over
listened to the new WORL, which is not a slight
on Taylor Swift, but just to say that, what a
shame it would be if you were declining being in
in a graffiti laden, potentially sticky Budapest dive bar so
that you could listen to Taylor Swift's new album exactly.

Speaker 9 (50:38):
And I've got so many songs from Symphony. This is
why I'm going around Europe in my head. There's no
space for Taylor Swift. It's just once it's going.

Speaker 2 (50:49):
There's nothing wrong with that. Hey, really appreciate your time
during me, so good to chat and congratulations. It's just
it's so cool to see artists really like, you know,
just just expanding the boundaries of where their art might go.
And I just, yeah, I think it's I think it's
fantastic and such a such a good cause to you know,
get kids and adults singing and moving together.

Speaker 9 (51:11):
Absolutely, Thanks Jack for your time, and I hope all
your listens out there can give it a sing along.

Speaker 18 (51:16):
The size of shot that.

Speaker 2 (51:17):
Is Jeremy readmore. We'll have all the details for sing
along size on the news Talks ZB. We've so there's
two from two now.

Speaker 3 (51:23):
See.

Speaker 2 (51:23):
When I asked Andrew Sevill before teen o'clock if he'd
listened to the to the Tallerswift album, I was being
a little bit cheeky because I thought, if there's anyone
who probably hasn't listened to the Tallerswift album, well, it
might be a photo finished between Kevin Mill and Andrew Savel,
But I thought Sam might not have listened to it.
He might not have been hanging out for five pm
n z T Friday afternoon for the album to drop worldwide.

(51:47):
But I thought Jeremy might have. Anyway, that they are
probably in the minority because the album has dropped Worldwhie
We're going to play a couple of songs from over
the next hour and a bit on News Talks EDB,
so you get a bit of a flavor of what
Taylor Swift is doing with her twelfth album, The Life
of a Show Girl. Before eleven o'clock on news Talks,
Z'DB Texpert is here with details on open AI's new

(52:10):
video generation platform. So basically, open ai came out with
an AI chatbot first of all. Then they came out
with an AI product that would help you make videos.
Now they've got a brand new video creator and they've
kind of made a social media platform to go with it.

Speaker 3 (52:25):
Is this what we need?

Speaker 2 (52:27):
My gut says no, But maybe it'll you know, maybe
it'll draw in a few hundred million users worldwide. He'll
give us all the details on that very shortly. We're
in the garden before eleven o'clock as well. But next
up your screen time picks for this weekend. If you're
looking for a good show to watch or stream at home.
Twenty past ten on Newstalk ZB.

Speaker 1 (52:46):
Start your weekend off the right way. Saturday morning with
jackdam News Talks Evy Jack.

Speaker 2 (52:53):
Why would any mature individual be waiting for Taylor Swiss
release off. Come on, Look, we're open minded on this program,
aren't we. Look the whole world is not the whole world,
but much of the world has been very excited about
Taylor Swift's new album. It is I think indisputably the
most hyped album of the year. So at the very least,

(53:14):
you know, I think we can be open minded. We
can see what the hype is about. Sues apparently is
one of these not very mature individuals, has slipped me
a text to say, Jack, I'm going to post shop
and wide O Valley listening to your talk about Andrew
Saville and his thoughts on Taylor Swift after just buying
the Taylor Swift CD for my day at home. How
about that? Good on you? Sues, life is such a

(53:36):
rich tapestry, she says, Yeah, ninety two to ninety two
if you want to send us the text this morning
buying a CD. Truthly, Todd, I don't even know you
could buy a CD anymore.

Speaker 3 (53:45):
He go.

Speaker 2 (53:46):
We're all learning this morning, you see, And that is
the attitude that we're going to bring when we listen
to the Life of a show Girl, her new album
very shortly right now twenty four past ten, Time to
get your screen time picks for this weekend. Tara Ward
has the tough job of sifting through all of the
amazing shows that you're watched in stream to bring three
recommendations to us every week. Get Atara Going.

Speaker 14 (54:08):
It's a tough job.

Speaker 2 (54:09):
It's a tough gig. It's a tough gig. Let's begin
with a show streaming on Neon tell Us about Billy
Joel and so it goes.

Speaker 20 (54:18):
Yeah, this is a new documentary series all about Billy
Joel's life and music and career. And there are only
two episodes in this, but each one is about two
and a half hours long, so this is quite a
deep dive and I really liked that it has the
time to build up quite a detailed, quite personal picture
about Billy Joel as a musician and a.

Speaker 12 (54:37):
Songwriter and a person.

Speaker 20 (54:39):
Whether you get to the end of that five hours
and think it's too long, I'm not sure yet. But
the first episode deals with his early years as a
songwriter and the beginnings of his career, and the second
is his life from the eighties onwards, when MTV arrived
on the scene and sort of gave him a new
audience and a new burst of a career. So if

(54:59):
you love American music or the seventies or eighties is
your era, and particularly, of course if you love Billy Joel,
this is a fascinating watch because it covers so much
cultural time and space and history from the nineteen sixties
all the way through to now, and Billy Joel is
looking back on his life, speaking honestly about the highs
and the lows, and comes across as as kind of

(55:21):
an ordinary guy who just wanted to make music and
didn't necessarily want all the stardom and other stuff that
came with it. There's also people like Bruce Springsteen and
Paul McCartney and Sting who talk about his influence on
their music, and some amazing footage and home movies and.

Speaker 17 (55:38):
Personal stuff as well.

Speaker 20 (55:40):
So it's a really comprehensive series that pulls lots of
different threads together from one man's life and gives us
quite an intimate, a nostalgic watch.

Speaker 2 (55:49):
Fantastic, Okay, cool, that sounds really good. So that's Billy
Joel and so it goes. It's on Neon, on TV
and Z Plus. You've seen The twelve, Yeah, this is
the return of The Twelve.

Speaker 20 (55:58):
This is a great Australian murder mystery drama. It's a
remake of a Belgian TV series and I Guess is
a legal drama as well. Each season of The Twelve
is about a complex murder case that goes to court
and we see the murder storyline unfold through the eyes
of the jury. So each of the twelve jury members
brings their own beliefs and experiences into the courtroom and

(56:23):
as they try to untangle their evidence and reach a
consensus about whether they're accused, is guilty or not guilty,
And the show is asking you, how do our life
experiences influence the decisions that we make and whether we're
aware of those factors or not. Season three has just
landed on TVZ Plus. It stars Sam Neil who returns

(56:43):
as one of the defense lawyers and as always as
great in this Danielle Cormack and Sarah Piers to other
New Zealand actors also star in season three. So if
you like good crime drama, it's not old fashioned, but
it's classic and it's storytelling, solid writing, solid acting. It's
not trying to do anything clever, but it's still compelling.

Speaker 10 (57:03):
TV. This is definitely worth a watch.

Speaker 20 (57:05):
Season two is also on TVZ Plus and the seasons
are self contained stories, so you can just dive right them.

Speaker 2 (57:11):
Yeah right, cool, Okay, that's the twelve. It's on TVNZ
Plus and on Netflix. Dark Winds.

Speaker 20 (57:17):
Yeah, Dark Ones isn't a new show. It's been hiding
away on a smaller streaming service called AMC for a
few years, but it has just come to Netflix, which
is giving it a whole new audience, which is fantastic
because it's such a great show. I guess you'd call
this a crime drama, but it's also a psychological thriller
and almost a Western as well. It's set in the

(57:37):
nineteen seventies in Arizona and New Mexico, and it's about
two dinner Navajo police officers who work on Navajo Nation,
which is the largest American Indian reservation in the States,
and they are trying to solve a double murder case.
They are dealing with a lot of local hostility, they
are trying to work with the local FBI, who work

(57:57):
very differently to them, and they're also dealing with their
own spiritual beliefs and traditions and relationships as they try
and work out what has happened in their own community.
And this is a slow burn of a series. It's
not in a hurry in a good way. It's dark
and and a bit edgy, and the locations and the
desert are stunning. It's beautifully made. And if you're a

(58:19):
fan of crime dramas, but you feel like you've seen
every angle for a murder mystery, this is something different.
And it's very rich in the storytelling because of the
setting and the characters and the history that anchors the show.

Speaker 12 (58:33):
So this is definitely worth a look.

Speaker 2 (58:35):
So that is Dark Wind that's on Netflix, The Twelves
on TVNZ Plus, and Billy Joel and So It Goes
is on the on Haitara. I took your advice finally
a couple of weeks late, and I went and watched
that documentary about the Biggest Loser Fit for TV on Netflix. Yes,
I mean, it's just isn't it amazing? How like what

(58:56):
is deemed to be okay culturally changes over a relatively time.
I remember watching that show, loving that show, finding it's
so compelling, and then watching that docking I was like, man,
by today's standards, this is just wildly inappropriate.

Speaker 20 (59:11):
Yeah, it's amazing when you step out and look back
and think, how how did how was it okay?

Speaker 2 (59:16):
How was any of today's standards?

Speaker 4 (59:18):
Right?

Speaker 2 (59:18):
And then yeah, and like the contestants doing the challenges
where they had to build towers out of junk food
but using only their mouths to build it, and stuff like,
oh my god.

Speaker 20 (59:31):
And the number of people who watched that every week, Yeah,
the people. You know, it pulled in astonishing numbers of audiences.
And it was one of many shows like that.

Speaker 1 (59:41):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (59:42):
Yeah, reasonable job of trying to bring some nuance into
it too, and suggesting that oh, you know, there were
some components of the show that might have been okay
and good and you know, I just anyway, I just yeah,
it was a great recommendation. So thank you very much.
We very much appreciate it. Yeah, Tara's pets will all
be up on the news talks. He'd be website as well,

(01:00:03):
so you can do that. Don't forget before eleven o'clock,
we are in the garden own in the garden has
lots of spring, beautiful, colorful spring options. If you haven't
visited the Garden center, now is the time to do it.
Make sure things are in the ground as the weather
starts to warm. This is Gon ten thirty.

Speaker 1 (01:00:21):
Getting your weekends started. It's Saturday Morning with Jack Team
on News Talks.

Speaker 13 (01:00:26):
A b Thank you for the lovely blue que speeder
a beach. Why you Donna the lafe of Sogol Bay
and you never ever.

Speaker 10 (01:00:38):
Got away the law? You play the mud? You kay,
you're softer than.

Speaker 13 (01:00:44):
A kid and sew you don't a the lafe of
so girl bad and you never got a runner.

Speaker 12 (01:00:53):
She was a menace.

Speaker 2 (01:00:55):
There are some albums for which you know success is
kind of inevitable, and then there are Taylor Swift albums.
When the announcement of your new record get half a
billion views just the announcement, it's pretty much predetermined. I
think that the actual music is going to be everywhere,

(01:01:15):
and you're probably going to notch up a few streams
here or the In fact, Talis might be one of
the only artists in the world to actually make a
bit of money out of Spotify. Anyway. She paired that
announcement with a launch event film featuring lyric videos backstage
footage that sold or pre sold fifteen million dollars worth
of tickets in the US. Alone, and the album has

(01:01:37):
been pre saved more than five million times on Spotify.
The possibility is, of course, that Tatus of stardom is
about to get even bigger. She's engaged to be married
to Travis Kelsey. It's an all American love story. Her
new album's out, The Life of a show Girl, has
dropped our music review of Chris Schultz actually went to
a listening party. Yes, they still exist, so he went

(01:02:00):
to a listening party with his daughter. He's going to
share all the details on that before midday. Like I said,
before ten o'clock, I had a bit of a listen
and you know, I will be the first one that
I haven't like. Taylor's was the last few albums haven't
been for me. Her kind of pop era hasn't been
for me. I really liked her early kind of country

(01:02:21):
pop stuff. I like that just her Taylor and a guitar.
I was into that. Romeo and Juliet Tim mcgare that
kind of stuff. And yeah, it hasn't really been my
capita over the last few years. But I listened to
the album this morning and I thought, I just thought
it would be a bit more upbeat. I thought it
would be maybe a Pacier or something. And yeah, so

(01:02:42):
I felt like it was a bit ah me my perspective,
But anyway, I've only listened to it once. We're gonna
listen to it a bit more before midday, and like
I said, Chris Shultz will be in with his thoughts
on it very soon before eleven o'clock. We're in the garden.
Next up, our texpert is here. He's answered. He was
trying to answer one of the big questions in the
tech industry right now, in the consumer tech world. Anyway,

(01:03:03):
are aiglasses really going to be thing?

Speaker 1 (01:03:07):
The headlines and the hard questions?

Speaker 3 (01:03:10):
It's the Mic Hosking breakfast.

Speaker 21 (01:03:11):
Let's get some insight into how much of a mess
the Mary Party in a flabbel former co leaders with
us Erud Kappa Key. I don't know him, do you?
He seems like a very affable, likable sort of bloke,
very articulate.

Speaker 8 (01:03:22):
That's a good summary of them.

Speaker 21 (01:03:23):
Okay, So is he trouble or is he going the
something fundamentally wrong.

Speaker 8 (01:03:26):
With the Mamory Party and the statement of these natives.
Politicians need to stop being activists, and activists need to
stop being politicians, which I think is a fair call.

Speaker 21 (01:03:34):
Is the dictatorship thing. The thing is that your observation
that they got a problem around there.

Speaker 8 (01:03:38):
I sort of haven't been involved too much with the
party at that level since I left, But on the
face of it, you'd say, well, there's a few things
going on.

Speaker 21 (01:03:46):
Back Monday from six am the Mic Hosking Breakfast with
a Vida News talk ZEDB.

Speaker 2 (01:03:51):
Twenty one to eleven on news talk Ed B. Apple
has tried to crack out the consumer wearables market in
the last couple of years with some new products, including
this Apple Vision Pro headset, which was its kind of
ORGANI entered reality headset. Extremely expensive. Some people love it,
some people said it made them feel a little bit carssack,

(01:04:13):
but it certainly didn't achieve the kind of sales that
some other Apple products have over the years. Anyway, our
reports out of the US now suggest that Apple is
giving up on its Vision Pro headsets and turning to
glasses instead, like wearable glasses, you know, like ray bands
or something like that. Meta has a pair of wearable
glasses that have been a little bit more, a little

(01:04:34):
more successful than people had expected. Our textbook Paul steenhouses
here with the details of Paul, Yeah, good morning.

Speaker 15 (01:04:42):
It's not a complete reversal. They say it's a stage jack,
like they're still going to have the Apple Vision Proof
for sale, but they're apparently looking at doing a big refresh,
And now that refresh has been shelved because I think
that the sales haven't been great. And I don't know
if you remember when it launched, there was talk that
they actually were trying to build the battery into the

(01:05:02):
headset too, but they it was getting too heavy from
its heads. It was too you know, it's a pretty
cumbersome device. If you've seen it's almost like ski goggles, right,
but like completely fill down, like it's a lot of
technology on your face. And so they had to revert
in that to put a battery pack. And people were
saying at the time, like, well, there's your first fail,
like maybe you weren't ready for this. Meta has had

(01:05:26):
a lot of success so far with these wearable glasses.
I know some people who have bought them. I don't
have a pair myself, but they enjoy them. They enjoyed
them when they didn't have a screen, and says that
having the screen on the glasses is a real game changer,
and Apple has obviously been paying attention because Yeah, the
word is now is that instead of focusing on the refresh,
all the attentions diverting, they're going to start looking at

(01:05:51):
very wearable daily glasses. That basically means you'd be able
to keep your phone in your pocket and be able
to get things like surriy in your ears, or listen
to your music, or get directions turn by turn wherever
you're looking. It's it's probably you know, it's like the
most futuristic. You know, it feels very futuristic, doesn't It
feels kind of interesting. But man, the timelines they're talking

(01:06:14):
about with this stuff. So metas already got these out right.

Speaker 19 (01:06:17):
They launched the ray bands with the screen.

Speaker 15 (01:06:20):
Apple's now putting all of their smart people, all of
their money into you know, now pivoting, and they don't
think that they will be talking about this, like releasing
a product with a screen built in until.

Speaker 10 (01:06:33):
Twenty twenty eight.

Speaker 2 (01:06:35):
Wow, So are you right? Yeah, met is going to
have a real clear advantage. Head start, Yeah, massive headstart.

Speaker 8 (01:06:43):
Yeah.

Speaker 15 (01:06:43):
Which you know, if Apple hasn't necessarily been the worst thing,
there were MP three players before the iPod, you know,
like that would be the argument. But yeah, like just
these timelines, so they're thinking at the moment, the first
announcement of these new glasses would expect to be next year,
but they won't have a screen going into like sale
in twenty twenty six. Yeah, but the one with a

(01:07:05):
screen twenty seven going into twenty twenty. It's just crazy,
isn't it.

Speaker 2 (01:07:10):
So Open AI has just released its new video generation model,
Sora too.

Speaker 15 (01:07:17):
Yeah, and it's really good, like to the point that,
you know, I think it has Hollywood a little nervous.
It's it's very realistic in the sense that they've managed
to get the AI to understand some of the physics.

Speaker 10 (01:07:32):
And in one of the.

Speaker 15 (01:07:33):
Example videos that they showed, it was someone doing a
backflip on a paddle board right and failing. So they're
standing on the paddle board and they're actually wabbling and
kind of you know, stabilizing like you would expect in
the real world.

Speaker 22 (01:07:46):
They do the backflip, which looks real.

Speaker 15 (01:07:48):
And then when it lands, the paddle board you know,
obviously compresses into the water and it shakes again. And
it was very realistic, right, worryingly realistic. And I've actually
launched a new app that is going to be the
home to all of these kind of saw two artificially
generated videos also called Sora. So it kind of looks

(01:08:12):
like TikTok jack.

Speaker 19 (01:08:14):
But all of it's fake.

Speaker 15 (01:08:16):
So as you're scrolling through, none of the videos is real,
none of it's happened.

Speaker 2 (01:08:21):
It looks like it's possible.

Speaker 19 (01:08:23):
Some of it looks like it's possible.

Speaker 15 (01:08:24):
They also showed videos of like a horse riding a horse.
You know, so not possible, but you can make things
very very realistic. And to take it one step further,
you can now put yourself into these videos. They say
that you can't do anything X rated with those with yourself.
They say you can't put someone into the video unless

(01:08:46):
they've given consent. So there's like a whole process you
go through when you're giving your video and creating an avatar.
You've got to like say the words that appear on
the screen in this whole thing, and you can't put
public figures in unless they've also kind of made themselves
available on the platform. Two but a lot of interest.
I guess what's number one on the Apple App Store
right now?

Speaker 2 (01:09:05):
Oh yeah, I'm not surprised.

Speaker 18 (01:09:06):
But it does require you.

Speaker 15 (01:09:08):
To get an invite code, so I haven't got my
grubby little fingers on it just yet.

Speaker 2 (01:09:12):
Yet, but yet. Yeah, I'm looking forward to I've seen
some of the examples, some of the video examples. They
are pretty impressive. Not perfect necessarily, but pretty impressive. And
you can see how it's six months. Oh yeah, that's it.

Speaker 10 (01:09:26):
That's it.

Speaker 2 (01:09:26):
Yeah, it just get strong. And if people are already
losing hours a day to TikTok, you can imagine this
might do something similar. Thanks so much, Paul, That's how
textbok Paul Stenhouse sixteen to eleven on News Talks, he'd
be our Master Samarier with his wine pick for the week. Next.

Speaker 1 (01:09:43):
No better way to kick off your weekend than with
Jack Saturday Morning with Jack Team News Talks.

Speaker 2 (01:09:51):
Be wine of the week Our Master Samaria Cameron Douglas
has chosen me. I know that seems confusing, but Me
is the name of the wine. It's my mater. Heweed,
It's a pen and Wi from last year twenty twenty four,
The Whited Cameron's with us this morning.

Speaker 16 (01:10:06):
Good morning, Good morning Jack.

Speaker 18 (01:10:09):
I hope you're well.

Speaker 2 (01:10:10):
Yeah, you so, tell us about the wine, tell us
about me.

Speaker 16 (01:10:14):
It's such a fabulous name for a pinin noir, isn't it?

Speaker 3 (01:10:16):
Because it is all about me.

Speaker 16 (01:10:19):
As you stated, this is what I call a complete
wine because anybody that wants to segue from white wine
into red wine but don't want to go too big
and too heavy, this is the right wine for you.
It's complete because it's got all of these structural elements
that frame a lovely cora of fruit. And what I

(01:10:40):
mean by structural elements, it's just they've gotten some nice
fine tannins which give that mouth feel, and what I
call dissolvable tannons, so all of that protein in your
saliva dissolves these tannins into nothing very slowly but effectively,
and then this line of acidity both together frame this
core of fruit, which is crunchy fresh cherries and sort

(01:11:05):
of that old straw kind of mouth feel flavor profile.
It's it's quite delicious, but very light on its feet
as well.

Speaker 2 (01:11:16):
Yeah, nice, it sounds amazing. What would you match it with?

Speaker 16 (01:11:20):
Well, I call it a porch pounder, meaning that you
can just smash a couple of glasses out whilst you're
just watching the sunset. So I would match it with
a pair of ti food something that you would eat
while you're on the back deck looking at the sunshine.

Speaker 4 (01:11:34):
So things like aaron.

Speaker 16 (01:11:35):
Cheeny that's got a little klamato olive in it because
you need that little salt kick inside the rice aaron
cheni balls. And it's also very good with things like
prawn ravioli with a little bit of bisk type sauce on.
There's a little bit of richness but not too much.
And that there's this bridging ingredient in food and wine pairing,

(01:11:58):
or many and one of them is tomato and cherry
tomatoes are excellent at producing the links between food and
wine together. And if you want to go something simple
without protein, just go with a catchier peppi spaghetti spread
with a little bit of parmesan cheese. It's really really
lovely with a wine like the Mattahiwi pino.

Speaker 2 (01:12:20):
Yeah, how was the twenty four vintage and widered.

Speaker 16 (01:12:22):
Upper Well, ultimately it was a slightly smaller vintage but
high quality. Right, they had really really good what we
call flower set, giving slightly smaller bunches, but ultimately high quality.
And when you combine that with good vineyard management that
they do at Mattahiwey estate. You produce wines that have

(01:12:43):
this lovely level of concentration, mouthfeel and length. So a
really really lovely wine to think about over this weekend
and next week.

Speaker 2 (01:12:51):
Fantastic, Thanks Cameron. Cameron's picked for us this week is
Me by Matahiwee. It's a pen and Wi from twenty
twenty four and wide it up a The details will
be on the newstalk z'db website.

Speaker 1 (01:13:01):
Gardling with Steel Shops battery system kits get a second
battery half price for a.

Speaker 2 (01:13:07):
Couple of weeks in the spring. Now and if you're
looking for a little bit of inspiration, a little bit
of color in your garden, something a bit new Men
in the Garden route climb passes here with some tips
this morning.

Speaker 3 (01:13:16):
Good morning sir, Good morning Jack.

Speaker 10 (01:13:19):
You're absolutely right. This is the time to actually get
inspiration from all over the place. And it's nice to know,
isn't it. I've been away from home for about three weeks,
so it's to be quite sore as lovely coming home
last night again and seeing how things have changed. Unbelievable.

Speaker 2 (01:13:37):
Oh yeah, another last three weeks. Yeah yeah, three weeks.

Speaker 10 (01:13:40):
That is so much. In the springtime, the CoFe is
flowering like billy. Oh we've gotten oh, we've got all
sorts of things flowering at the moment. But some stuff
has changed as well. But anyway, the idea I think
that people would would like to know is that if
you really want to know what your garden is going
to look like, if you're working on the garden, for instance,

(01:14:02):
you can do a few things. You can go of
course with the botenny gardens, I've always been a fan
of that, especially Hagley Park Potannica well you know what
I mean, just fabulous, but also the Botanica and in
Auckland is unbelievably great. It's fabulous. But there's another one
thing that I've just noticed as a Dutchman, and it

(01:14:23):
is when you go walking around your own area where
you live, you know, like half an hour walk, and
you see people's gardens in the neighborhood with plants that
fit where you live or plants that work that work
where you live. And it's absolutely lovely to work with
your community if you like on on working out exactly

(01:14:45):
what what looks well, what what what grows well, et cetera.
And sometimes what I used to do anyway, in Titirami,
and lang home.

Speaker 3 (01:14:53):
And so on.

Speaker 10 (01:14:54):
I would go up the drive and knock on somebody's
door and say, excuse me, you've got this lovely day.

Speaker 8 (01:15:00):
What is the.

Speaker 10 (01:15:02):
That's that is a tetrata or there's an amalek here
or something. You get to say, and you know what
the nicest stream is Jack that all these gardeners will say,
you want to cut in?

Speaker 4 (01:15:12):
Ah?

Speaker 2 (01:15:13):
Yeah, of course, yeah, you know yeah.

Speaker 10 (01:15:15):
And that's exactly how it works. So I decided a
couple of weeks ago to go too Julie's garden here
and noticed that she does it all the time. She
has this wonderful stuff of contrasts, I suppose. So I've
taken a whole lot of pictures and I know Levy
is going to put them on this on the website.
But there's a wonderful example. What of the for instance,

(01:15:38):
of the Amalnkia canadensis, the white flowers and a Canadian
shed bush we call it, which actually I kind of
knew from my Canadian friend or Biki Wi trust anyway,
but she put that not just on his own, but
with the background of canomalies, which is the Japanese quins,
which is a red, beautiful red flower as well, and

(01:16:01):
they contrast absolutely gorgeous. So I thought I put them
in there because this is something that other people don't know.
The problem with canomalies, though it is very sharp, you've
got to be careful when you go so you don't
get all these hassles. And then the last bits of
photographs that I put together was a typical thing of

(01:16:22):
many different things that you see from different angles, and
every different angle makes a completely different garden. So we
have euphobia, for instance, we've got heavy and Spiraea japonica.
And if you look at those three things from three
different angles with all the others, you suddenly realize that
your garden has many, many different angles to work with.

(01:16:46):
And that is exactly how you put them together.

Speaker 2 (01:16:49):
Fantastic. Yeah, and those are great pot I was like,
you say, we're going to make sure those are up
on the news talks whips that. Yeah, oh yeah, that's great,
thank you, thank you, rhud Hey is it too early
to start getting in like basil and stuff like that
right now?

Speaker 10 (01:17:04):
Now? Do get real? Yeah? Okay, yeah yeah, And I
think I think next week, if you've got apple trees,
I think you should do something about coddling moss and
I will give you the way to go without getting
these blinking caterpillars in your fruit.

Speaker 2 (01:17:20):
Yeah, thank you, sir. Great we can't catch your soon
route climb past in the garden for us. This morning,
after eleven o'clock on Newstalks, edb our sustainability expert is
here with his sustainable spring habits, and by that she
means sustainable in every sense. Sustainable as in like all
good for the world, but also sustainable as in you'll

(01:17:40):
be able to do this start a fresh in spring,
and it's the sort of thing you might be able
to continue. So I should be here with that very shortly.
Our travel correspondent is taking us to Penang in Malaysia
this week, and of course we're going to carve out
a bit of time so we can listen to a
couple of songs from Taylor Swift's brand new album, The
Life of a Showgirl. It's almost eleven o'clock though, News
is next. You're with Jack Tayman. This is Newstalk's EDB.

Speaker 1 (01:18:04):
Saturday Morning with Jack keeping the conversation going through the
weekend US talks.

Speaker 4 (01:18:10):
That'd be.

Speaker 2 (01:18:33):
This is Taylor Swift, the certainly most hyped album of
the Year, The Life of the show Girl, was released
at five pm New Zealand time yesterday evening. Simultaneously around
the world Swift these were downloading it, streaming it, absorbing it.
That song is called the Life of Ophelia, Fate of

(01:18:55):
the Fate of Opelia, The Fate of Ophelia.

Speaker 8 (01:18:57):
There you go.

Speaker 2 (01:18:59):
And look. It's not like Taylor Swift needs much publicity,
but she actually did a bit of press, which is
not terribly common for her, Like it's quite unusual for her.
Her doo much priest and the lead up to her
new album release for the Life of a show Girl.
So she joined the Red Cat on The Graham Norton
Show last night and showed off her new engagement ring.

Speaker 23 (01:19:19):
And there's a lot to congratulate Tailor Swift about, but
the one that I feel I ought to graduate is
the new bit of finger jewelry.

Speaker 18 (01:19:26):
The hardware afread.

Speaker 2 (01:19:27):
Yes. She then recounted how the engagement itself took shape.
Of course, with NFL star Trevis Kelcey. She had no
idea of the extravagant seat up that was being created
around her.

Speaker 23 (01:19:39):
Here's a very quick reminder of the engagement announcement that
broke the internet. Was it thirty five million.

Speaker 18 (01:19:46):
Likes or something? That photograph card and is that the
actual proposal?

Speaker 24 (01:19:51):
It is actually so he really crushed it when it
came to surprising me because we had actually filmed a
podcast episode. He has a podcast called New Heights. We
filmed the podcast for about three or four hours whatever,
and meanwhile behind his house he was having the whole

(01:20:12):
backgarden turned into this wow And one of the things
that he put in there very strategically was a wall
of hedges that weren't there before. And inside the hedges
was my tour photographer hiding in bushes that had not.

Speaker 18 (01:20:27):
Previously been there.

Speaker 24 (01:20:28):
It was you went all out, ten out of ten.

Speaker 2 (01:20:31):
Putting us to shame. Bro She also joined Greg James
on BBC Radio One for a bit of a chin Weg,
speaking about her previous experiences of writing about heartbreak who
worry about how her new found love with Travis Kelsey
might effect her ability to churn out heartbreak anthems.

Speaker 25 (01:20:48):
I used to kind of have this dark fear that
if I ever were truly like happy and free being
myself and nurtured by a relationship, that like what happens
if the writing just dries up. What I writing is
directly tied to my torment and pain, and that's not
the case at all.

Speaker 2 (01:21:07):
And we just were catching lightning in a bottle with
this record. Greg also asked if she's keen to hit
the road again after her Mammoth eras to her, have.

Speaker 19 (01:21:15):
You got the edge for another something soon?

Speaker 3 (01:21:17):
No?

Speaker 25 (01:21:17):
No, I'm just gonna I'm gonna be really honest with you,
like I am so tired, like when I think about
doing it again, because I would want to do.

Speaker 2 (01:21:23):
It really, really well again, of course, you know. And
she revealed that Travis Kelsey is the first person who
hears all her new tracks.

Speaker 18 (01:21:32):
When did you play it to Travis?

Speaker 2 (01:21:35):
To Big Trav, I.

Speaker 25 (01:21:35):
Would play it for him as soon as I'd come
back from Sweden, Okay, as soon as they'd come back
from Sweden. I just like play it from and I
knew that this was the kind of album that he
was going to love the most. He's like so supportive
of all of it, but like he's a real vibes guy.

Speaker 2 (01:21:49):
Well, I'm sure there are many million Swifties out there
who feel the same way, who regardless of what kind
of music Taylor swift release would be delighted at the
mere fact of its release. Anyway, we are going to
carve out a bit of space and make sure that
we play you a couple of songs from the Life
of a show Girl that has been out there in
the world now for eighteen hours or so. So we

(01:22:10):
will pick out a couple of the representative tracks and
have a listener. Music reviewer actually went and listened to
the Life of a show Girl at an album listen
party last night, so he's going to be with us
very soon. Right now, it is eleven, that's past eleven.

Speaker 4 (01:22:23):
Jack t Now.

Speaker 2 (01:22:24):
Sustainability expert Kate Hall is here with us this morning.
She's looking at sustainable spring habits held Kate. Good morning, Jack,
Sustainable spring activities. Spring has sprung. At that time of year,
we all try to reset and I try and have
some slightly better habits maybe as we go into the
warmer weather. So you've got a whole series for us

(01:22:45):
this morning. Let's start off with things that you can
do in the garden and you reckon, it's a great
time to start planting and swapping.

Speaker 14 (01:22:52):
Oh yeah, yeah, planting and stopping because I think like
I do things with neighbors. If you grow kind of
one crop that works really well in your property, you
can stop with I stop with my dad, or we
stopped seedling, stop probuce. I think springs. It feels like
a good refresh time. Even if you don't you haven't
had a garden, maybe consider even just planting a few

(01:23:13):
things like some salad, greens or tomatoes. I've got tomatoes
and basil and peppers on growing at the moment, little seedlings.
But as you try that, even just in pots, you know,
if you just have a small space, plant them in
pots and start, yeah, seeing what you can swap with
neighbors and what you can grow in your own space.

Speaker 2 (01:23:32):
So have you got your basil going already?

Speaker 14 (01:23:35):
Yes, yep. I've got to see that that grow really
really well.

Speaker 2 (01:23:38):
Oh that's good.

Speaker 4 (01:23:38):
See.

Speaker 2 (01:23:38):
I usually wait until like the latter half of October,
maybe starting a vembit to get in the basil. And
but you're putting me to shame. Maybe I need to I.

Speaker 14 (01:23:45):
Haven't put them in the ground yet when I really Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:23:50):
That's brave. Yeah, yeah, okay, that's good. The it is given.
I don't want to say it's like totally dry, but
given the weather is supposedly starting to improve at the
very least the sun has a bit of bite. It
is a great time to start hanging out your water.

Speaker 14 (01:24:07):
Yeah, yeah, I think people can get into quite become
quite reliant on the dry But now it's a good
time to think, actually, no, there are some you know,
dryer days, and just there are some windy days which
can actually be really great at drying things too. So
just looking at your kind of habits that you've fallen

(01:24:28):
into with drying things and you know, turning heat pumps
on and stuff like that, and thinking, actually, now I
can slowly transition out of using those quite energy intensive machines.

Speaker 2 (01:24:39):
Yeah, it's a good time of year for a spring clean.
And if you're spring cleaning, you shouldn't necessarily be checking
everything out.

Speaker 14 (01:24:45):
No, absolutely nuts, No spring clean responsibly. So if you
are donating things, make sure they're clean and repaired. Make
sure it's cities and all too. I think a lot
of upstops they don't have heaps of space, and so
donating things now they're good for summer, you know, not
donating kind of your winter woollies. Hold on to those

(01:25:08):
and donate them in the future before winter next year.
So just being like not treating up shops like a
dumping ground or like another landfill site, because I think
people just you know, drop and run and kind of
hope that people did op shops want that stuff, but
reading that they often have like a blackboard out the
front with things that they will take. So just being

(01:25:30):
really responsible with that when you donate.

Speaker 2 (01:25:33):
I think that's that's a great point. So this time
of year is for the first time in about five months,
the time when my local park doesn't have these massive
puddles right in the middle of it and like that
right in the middle of the walkways and everyone likes
to go yeah, which means it's a great time for
a picnic.

Speaker 14 (01:25:51):
Yes, absolutely, I think you know, we've all had our
Netflix binge watching movies and the depths of winter, and
so yeah, grab a picnic, rug, make some homemade snacks
and jazz and containers. I think that's a really fun
spring activity to remind ourselves that we can get out
and about again and start that now.

Speaker 2 (01:26:10):
If you're doing your composting and you've been holding off
the outdoor composting, now is the perfect time mm hmm.

Speaker 14 (01:26:18):
I think and winter even that walk to the compost
it can be quite daunting and muddy, So just I
think Springer's is a great time to refresh our sustainable
hacks and activities. So start in your compast, you know,
maybe giving it a good turn, adding some good you know,
leaves and cardboard, and just starting that system again. You

(01:26:41):
may need to refresh your composting sign for you're running
your house to know how to compost throughout spring and summer.

Speaker 2 (01:26:50):
It's also a good time to get on your bike
if you haven't been over winter, and to try and
reset the old transport habits.

Speaker 14 (01:26:57):
Yes, yeah, I mean there's some troopers, so I see
out raincoats and all sorts of My friend Bella has
been amazing at continuing to not have a car actually
all winter and walking and biking. But I think for
those who it just wasn't possible over winter. Starting to
get the bike out. You take the bike to the
bike shop and give them a waft as it were,

(01:27:20):
and get your rain coats, hang them up, but maybe
take them just in case. The spring can be quite wet.

Speaker 8 (01:27:26):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:27:27):
Nice, And last but not least, on your tips for
getting organized the spring and getting more sustainable the spring.
Local volunteering so it's not just a spring clean at home,
but maybe a spring clean in your community.

Speaker 14 (01:27:39):
Yeah. I think it's another thing to get out and
about to do. Beach clean apps. They can be volunteer
like planting days at local gardens, which is a great
way to actually learn tips to implement in your own
garden too. So yeah, another spring activity as well as
the eco picnics.

Speaker 8 (01:27:56):
Love it.

Speaker 2 (01:27:56):
Hey, thank you so much, Kate. Great tips. As always,
we're going to make sure your sustainable springtime tips are
on the news talks you'd be website. You can find
Kate of course on the social media platforms by suit
Ethically Kate, and we will see you again soon.

Speaker 12 (01:28:09):
Thank you.

Speaker 2 (01:28:10):
In a few minutes on news Talk here'd be a
travel correspondence here this week he's taking a dip with
Penang in Malaysia. Seventeen past eleven.

Speaker 1 (01:28:18):
Travel with Windy WU Tours Where the World is Yours
for Now.

Speaker 2 (01:28:22):
Travel corresponder Mike Yardley is taking us to Penang in
Malaysia this morning. Good morning, Mike, Good morning Jack.

Speaker 3 (01:28:28):
I wish I was still there. The weather is atrocious.

Speaker 2 (01:28:32):
Oh really back home? Oh yeah yeah, absolutely, yeah. Yeah,
So the island of Penang is kind of a it's
kind of a side trip if you're traveling through southeastdaysiare right, like,
it's very relatively, relatively convenient and easy to get to.

Speaker 3 (01:28:47):
Definitely. Yeah, it's just a few hours drive from Kuala Lumpa.
And in fact, if you do want to drive it,
it is so cool because the island of Panang has
pinned to the Malay Peninsula and you've got some seriously
impressive bridges spanning the Strait of Malacca. There is one
bridge jack that stretches seventeen wow across the water. That's

(01:29:09):
quite a drive if you're in Bangkok. It's just a
ninety minute flight from Singapore, just sixty minutes away. In fact,
my taxi driver remarked to me how a lot of
Singaporeans they'll fly to the island of Panang for lunch
and then head home. So if you were heading to
Southeast Asia, maybe stopping over en route to Europe or

(01:29:30):
on the way home, Panang is a really stress free
side trip.

Speaker 8 (01:29:33):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:29:34):
Nice. Where would you recommend staying? Where's best to stay?

Speaker 3 (01:29:37):
Well, the major tourist district is in Georgetown, although the
widest city around, the historic core has exploded in growth
in recent years. It just blew me away when I
was there a couple of weeks ago. So it's really busy,
lots of traffic, congestion. They're groaning under the weight of
their congestion. It is an urban jungle. So I would
strongly suggest you mix Georgetown with the beach and base

(01:30:02):
yourself in the north of the island at Batu Faringi,
which I looks the Endermin Sea. It's one of Malaysia's
best beaches. Bartuferingi and I loved the hard Rock Hotel.
It's the first hard rock I've actually stayed at.

Speaker 2 (01:30:17):
Okay, yeah, right, I mean hard rock is like quite
popular in Asia, right.

Speaker 3 (01:30:22):
It's really interesting because yeah, that the hotel brand hasn't
penetrated Australasia. There is a hard rock cafe in Sydney,
but not a hotel in our part of the world.
But across Asia, the Middle Eastern Europe, they have just
like grown like wildfire, bit like North and South America.
But the memorabilia at the hard Rock Pananjic it is

(01:30:43):
so absorbing. I felt very, very excited with the upcoming
release of Taylor's new album, and I was standing in
front of the glass cabinet looking at Taylor's stage costumes.
So I think that's as close as I'll ever get
to the real thing. So yeah, the rock star. Theming,
obviously at these hard rock hotels is laid on thick.

(01:31:05):
The best thing though about the Penanga Post is the poll.
Oh my god, it's the biggest pool in northern Malaysia.
So it's this free form sprawler of a pool and
it starts off like a shallow lagoon with a sandy base,
which I thought's quite clever for a pool, and then
it just seamlessly transitions into an ocean blue deep pool

(01:31:28):
with underwater rock music. It is utterly addictive. Yeah. I
was marinateing many hours in that year.

Speaker 2 (01:31:34):
Yeah, yeah, it certainly sounds like an experience. So that's
in the north, right, the hotels in the north. How
far away is Georgetown?

Speaker 3 (01:31:41):
Then it's only a thirty minute drive. And this is
the really good thing for Kiwi's. The New Zealand dollar
serves up a lot of ring its, so bang for buck,
Malaysia is as cheap as chips. So it was about
ten dollars to get a taxi to Georgetown from Buttu
Feringhi in Malaysia, they use Grab, they don't do Uber,

(01:32:01):
so download the Grab app and grab as you go
to The Doric hert of Georgetown is a cracker. The
widest city, as I said, a jungle, but the historic
core absolutely stunning. It's all UNESCO protected, so they've got
seventeen hundred heritage shop houses guarded by that UNSCO protection, temples,

(01:32:26):
a sizzling dining scene, awesome street art, great shopping. There
is the super cool street Jack where you've got a mosque,
a Hindu temple, a Buddhist temple, and two Christian churches
all shoulder to shoulder. So it is the ultimate religious
and cultural melting pot. And yeah, I just think Georgetown

(01:32:47):
is one of those places that just instantly casts you
under its spell. So good to dip in and out of.

Speaker 2 (01:32:53):
Oh fantastic. What about hiking?

Speaker 3 (01:32:56):
Yes, back at Bartu Faringhi. The really good thing about
the beach is that it's backed by Pinnang National Park.
So this park teeming with birds long tailed MCX. You
could easily spend all day on its hiking trails and
only run into a handful of people. It is remarkably
underpopulated by tourists. The other really good option closer to

(01:33:21):
Georgetown if you would like to, as I did, refresh
your fetish for for niculus, take a jaunt up the
Penang Hell railways. It's just out of Georgetown, and the
summit has been a hilltop retreat from the steamy heat
for centuries. But aside from the awesome buse you get
up there, they have got fabulous hiking trails leading off

(01:33:43):
the summit to get your full of jungle greens. Really
good spot to check out.

Speaker 2 (01:33:47):
Yeah, what about street eats?

Speaker 8 (01:33:48):
What did you like?

Speaker 2 (01:33:49):
What hit the spot?

Speaker 10 (01:33:50):
Oh?

Speaker 3 (01:33:51):
My goodness, so many choices. Jack, and I've got really
good night markets at Bartu Feringi as well. So like
beyond the hotel, you can just throll along the beach
and noth away as you watch a sun set into
the and ofmen CEA chark Wait towel is extra good
and Panang because the Panang version is particularly charred in aromatic.

(01:34:13):
So there rice noodles of fried in high heat with
prawns and cockles and eggs and bean sprouts, and they
do it in this very fiery display over a charcoal fire.
Panang's Assam luxA also really good, sour and spicy noodles
with a tangy fish fish broth, and your bowl of

(01:34:35):
thick rice noodles just brims with finely sliced onions and cucumber, pineapple,
red chilies, mint torch, ginger buds. And then I noticed
the locals had a bit of porn paste, which is
a nice sweet touch, really zesty dish. And by the way,
if you need to cool down, have you ever come

(01:34:57):
across chen dole cnd L. So it's either pronounced chen
dole or in some parts of Southeast Asia chun dole,
which doesn't sound quite as advertising. I have to say,
you don't want a chunder on your chin dole. But
chen dole is this sweet, icy delight and it consists

(01:35:21):
of green jelly noodles and they serve it over shaped
ice with kidney beans. Then they slather it and copious
amounts of coconut milk and palm sugar syrup.

Speaker 2 (01:35:33):
I mean that does so good. Yeah, although I'm looking
at photos of it, it looks I mean it does
look really different.

Speaker 26 (01:35:41):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:35:41):
Yeah, yeah, busy, that's a good busy and buzzy. It's
like quite a verdant green ah. Yeah, yes, wow, I
can't I'm look famously open minded, of course, and especially
when it comes to dessert. So that does sound like
a bit of meat, Yeah it does.

Speaker 3 (01:36:00):
It does call you down, that's the key thing. You'll
get a sugarhead as well. But it does call the body,
and you need that obviously in places like Panang. Yeah,
so I wonder why.

Speaker 2 (01:36:10):
You see that people fly up from Singapore to go
for lunch. I wonder if you get in Panang that
you can't get in Singapore. You know, maybe it's just
that it's just for the excursion or something, because I mean,
they're they're very close as the crow flies, aren't they.
And the food nets are pretty good.

Speaker 3 (01:36:25):
Yeah yeah, and the food is really good in Singapore
obviously as well. But yeah, I just noticed that a
lot of just as you will find in Singapore and Penang,
they just seem to have a bit more heat to them,
you know, yeah, more spice content.

Speaker 4 (01:36:40):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:36:40):
Oh that sounds like a bit of me. I love
Malaysian food. I just think it's so good. Okay, that's fantastic, mate,
And like you say, a really good option for a
little stopover, and maybe if you're making way through Asia,
really convenient to get to and just a little bit different.
So thank you. All of Mike's tips on traveling and
tripping through Penang will be up on the News Talks.
He'd be website and we'll catch up with him again

(01:37:02):
for another mouthwatering destination, no doubt this time next week.
This is coming up to eleven thirty before midday on
News Talks, he'd be We're going to tell you about
the latest installment in the Thursday Murder Club series. Our
book reviewer will be here with her thoughts on that
very shortly. Plus, of course, Taylor Swift's new album. Next up,
we'll see what Jason Pie is planning for Weekend Sport
this afternoon.

Speaker 1 (01:37:26):
Getting your weekends started. It's Saturday morning with Jack Team
on News TALKSB.

Speaker 2 (01:37:51):
That's over Light, one of the new songs off Taylor
Swift's new album. We'll listen to a bit more of
the album before midday. It's is going to eleven thirty though.
Jason Pine is on Weekend Sport this afternoon, counting down
to the second Leader's Load this evening. I started off
the show with a win. Poney, I'm gonna reiterate my
wins to you. Honestly, who's in charge of scheduling these things.

(01:38:12):
Who is a charger? So you had the AFL Grand
Final last weekend clashed with the rugby, you had the
Warriors playoff clashing with the rugby, and now you've got
a ten to forty five pm kickoff in Perth. So
five forty five local time kickoff, which I get is
relatively convenient, probably for people in Perth, But I just
don't see why it couldn't have been two o'clock in
the afternoon.

Speaker 22 (01:38:30):
Well true, Or they could have had it at seven
o'clock at night. Couldn't they would be up even later? Lot,
I Yes, I guess scheduling is almost done with it.
You know, an isolation of other things, isn't it, Jack?

Speaker 2 (01:38:41):
And you're right, that's a suit. You know, it's a bit.

Speaker 8 (01:38:44):
It is a bit.

Speaker 22 (01:38:45):
Although at least we'll have weather permitting the cricket to
get us to choose to ten forty five tonight. That's
if a dozen rain anymore in Mount Morganui.

Speaker 2 (01:38:53):
Look, I I'm actually very curious to see how this
game goes tonight.

Speaker 22 (01:38:56):
No Bledislow on the line, but I don't think that'll
that'll take away so much motivation for Australia. Anyway, they
got to within two points with ten minutes ago last
weekend of breaking that Eden Park, who do They've got
a couple of players back. I'm just really curious to
see how the All Blacks go. I mean it's been
it's been just inconsistency through the Rugby Championship. Beat Argentina,

(01:39:17):
then lose to them, beats South Africa, they lose to them,
beat Australia. Can they go back to back tonight? Look,
it's it's not beyond the realms of possibility. They'll lose
tonight the All Blacks. I don't think they will, but
they could. And then all of a sudden we're in
this situation where consistency just remains elusive as we head
towards the back end of the second year of Scott
Robinson's coaching tenure. So look that the side's interesting. Quinta

(01:39:41):
pyre and at center, that is interesting. Peter Larkeye ahead
of Wallace to Titi at number eight, that's interesting, no
boat and Barratt's a Damien McKenzie for just a second
time this year gets to run the cutter at ten
Leicster fighting a nukel back in I'm looking forward to
seeing how he goes plenty, even Triggue, I think there's
enough to keep us up, Oh for sure, ten forty five.

Speaker 2 (01:40:01):
Jack, I would say, certainly, no doubt about that. So
then the Dame Nolding toto a situation drags on. What
have you made of all of that?

Speaker 22 (01:40:09):
This week just I mean, just just a shambles, really, Jack,
I mean, here we are like that, We've got to
play Australia in less than two weeks. That team's supposed
to be named on Monday and get together back end
of next week, and we still don't know who's going
to be coaching them. It just seems I don't know,
like it's just dragging on and on.

Speaker 8 (01:40:28):
And I know.

Speaker 22 (01:40:29):
Employment disputes and you know in the real world and
the corporate world, and I guess this is no different.
Do tend to take some time. There's a lot of emotion,
there's a lot of different sides to be heard. Mediation
does tend to take time. But at some point we
just have to know what the future looks like. If
Dave Nolin is staying, then make that decision. Get her
back in there and we can plan ahead. If she's

(01:40:49):
not same thing, she's not coming back, who's taking this
team forward, who's taking them to the Commonwealth Games next year,
all that stuff, But there's just so much uncertainy. I
actually think the most worrying point of the whole thing
has been the silence from Netbourne, New Zealand on any
aspect of this. You know, are the what are the
things that are being investigated? What is the plan in

(01:41:11):
scenarios A, B and C? And you know, really I
think we've been left very much in the dark by
all of this, which which has been the most unhelpful
thing of all for me.

Speaker 2 (01:41:20):
I totally agree. Well said, hey, looking forward to the
show this afternoon, and don't forget, of course, the News
Talk's head p team are going to have a live
call of the All Blacks versus the Wallabies in Perth
ten forty five pm tonight is kick off. That'll be
live on Newstalks. He'd be gold Sport as well, of course.
Right now it is twenty five to twelve.

Speaker 1 (01:41:38):
Saturday Morning with Jack Team Full Show podcast on iHeartRadio
powered by News talks'd B twenty.

Speaker 2 (01:41:44):
Three to twelve. Author Richard Osmond's The Thursday Murder Club
series has broken all sorts of records are now. The
latest edition in the series has just been published. It's
called The Impossible Fortune. Katherin Rains, our book reviewer, has
read it and she's with us.

Speaker 26 (01:41:59):
Now, what do you think, Catherine, Look, I really love
the series and I would highly recommend that starting at
number one and making a way to this one, which
is number five, And the last book ended with a loss,
and Possible Fortune picks up some time after that has happened,
and so you're back with Elizabeth and Ibriam and Joyce
and Ron and the characters are larger and lighter than life,

(01:42:22):
and they're relatable and they're human and they have great depth.
And in this book there's a wedding on the horizon
and the Thursday Murder Club. We're all kind of sort
of taking life as it comes. Elizabeth is sort of
deep in her grief, and Joyce is preparing for her
daughter Joan's wedding, and Ron and Abraham are just kind
of just there and as friendly as ever. But then
the best man for the wedding goes missing, and there's

(01:42:43):
a lot of money on the line and a crypto
scheme and a murder occurs, and then of course, the
troops gather to figure out this puzzle, and as that
investigation deepens, things arise for Ron as well, and there's
all hands on deck to help. And in this edition
we also get to know some of their family members better,
particularly Ron's grandson Kendrick, who's just very funny. And the

(01:43:05):
group dynamic is very close knit, and the banter is
funny and clever, and as a reader, you're there, You're
along for the ride, you're really invited in, and it's
cozy and full of heart and humor. And as I said,
the series is now five books in, and it proceeds
to get better and better, and each novel continues to
feel really fresh and nuanced, and even the you know,

(01:43:26):
even when those pieces of the plot are seemingly unconnected,
all the bits snap into place. And Osmond is brilliant
at crafting this group of very captivating characters who are
all in their eighties and allstrating this very intricate mysteries
and making you laugh and tug on your hate strings.
And you know, it's very well written, cozy murder mystery
and well worth a reader.

Speaker 2 (01:43:46):
Great. So That's the Impossible Fortune by Richard OsmAnd, The
latest in the Thursday Murder Club series Sneaks Up tell
Us About Culpability by Bruce Holsinger.

Speaker 26 (01:43:56):
There's a really interesting dynamic to this novel. It's centered
around the collision of what humans think around artificial intelligence
and the responsibility for all of those things. And so
the Cassidy Shaw family are on a road chip and
seventeen year old Charlie is behind the wheel of their
autonomous minivan and his dad, Noah's writing alongside, and Charlie's

(01:44:18):
mom and sisters are all writing in the back. And
then the van collides with another car and accident is
fatal for those in the other car, and so the
Castidy shows are attempting to process this and the impact,
and they end up heading away for this week long
stay in a house in Chesapeake Bay, and Noah, the
dad's trying to hold the family together and working out
how to protect Charlie. But each of the family members

(01:44:40):
has got secrets, and as those investigations fold, it becomes
very clear that the real cause of the accident might
not be as simple as human error, and so you
get this focus on the dilemmas of Ai Lorelle, who's
the mother is a leader in the field of artificial intelligence,
and this book raises this very big moral question. You know,
when machines start making the decisions where there's the responsibility

(01:45:01):
to lie.

Speaker 3 (01:45:02):
Is it on the tech?

Speaker 26 (01:45:03):
Is it the people who created it, or is it
the people using it. You get this blend of ethics
and technology into this very character focused narrative and it's
a perfect being between tension and atmosphere and ethics and morality,
and the story keeps moving and you end up with
this novel has the best of thriller and drama and
philosophical inquiry, and it's very well done.

Speaker 2 (01:45:24):
Sounds intriguing. It sounds not just as Tobin. It feels
like the sort of thing that we are actually going
to be grappling with increasingly, right.

Speaker 26 (01:45:31):
It feels like something that's five years away. Yeah, like
you know, autonomous vehicles are here. I mean, you know,
particularly in the States where there's lots of driverless cars
and those sorts of things. And yeah, it doesn't feel
like it's a whole level removed when you're reading it.

Speaker 2 (01:45:47):
No, no, hey, speaking of character, and it's given you
are such a king fan of Formula one and motorsport.
What did you make of Liam Lawson putting his into
the wall this morning.

Speaker 26 (01:45:56):
Oh, that was pretty disappointing for him, to be honest,
especially after last weekend. So yeah, I'm sure he's feeling
pretty sad in that garage right now. Yeah, you know,
the weekend's a long time and he's gone. I have
every hope he's going to pull it back and be
well up there on the grid here.

Speaker 2 (01:46:11):
I hope this doesn't time like the damage is too bad.
But yeah, but pretty frustrating seeing those sparks this morning.
Thank you, Catherine. So Catherine's book for us Culpability with
that second one about the self driving car that crashes.
The Impossible Fortune by Richard Osmond is her first book.
That's The Thursday Murder Club. But we'll make sure both
of those are up on the website so you can
track them down as well. Eighteen to twelve, Yes, it's

(01:46:32):
tail of time. On News Talks, it'd be a couple
of her new songs from the Life of a Showgirl.

Speaker 1 (01:46:36):
Next, giving you the inside scoop on all you need
to Know this Saturday morning with Jack Team News Talks.

Speaker 8 (01:46:44):
It'd be.

Speaker 2 (01:46:46):
Times as you're my friends, are we are?

Speaker 27 (01:46:49):
We're talking about all the time you've spent on me, honestly,
are the ethic.

Speaker 13 (01:47:01):
It's actually man's belly.

Speaker 10 (01:47:05):
God, thank you.

Speaker 2 (01:47:14):
That is actually romantic. Taylors for a song from her
new album, The Life of a show Girl. That's a
diss track about Charlie x. Ex The man to explain
exactly what she's dissing and what that's all about is
Chris Schultz. He's listened to the album is with Us Now?
And he listened to the album and an album listening
party of all places I did.

Speaker 28 (01:47:33):
Yeah, six pm last night, I trudged along to Real
Groovy Records in Auckland Central. I thought they were going
to be cues out the door of teenagers desperate to
hear this thing, to get their hands on the vinyl.

Speaker 19 (01:47:44):
It wasn't like that. It was quite mu said.

Speaker 28 (01:47:46):
There were probably only a quarter to a third of
the people that were there for the last one.

Speaker 19 (01:47:51):
Yeah, I should explain. I've got eleven year old.

Speaker 2 (01:47:53):
Done you feel like you have to explain? This is
a no judgment zone Saturday morning.

Speaker 19 (01:47:58):
Do you know that I did think about queuing for
the glitter face paint?

Speaker 8 (01:48:01):
Yeah?

Speaker 19 (01:48:02):
You know that was a step two fun.

Speaker 3 (01:48:05):
Yeah.

Speaker 19 (01:48:05):
The response was quite muted.

Speaker 28 (01:48:08):
There wasn't a lot as much screaming from the teenagers
this time, and I think that's because the album is
it does just feel like a shiny little relic of
the past.

Speaker 19 (01:48:17):
It's gleaming. She's worked with.

Speaker 28 (01:48:21):
The producers who made her biggest songs, Max Martin and Shellback.
They're the ones who helped her write the songs that
reverberated around stadiums all through the eras to her. So
she's going back to that, the reputation era, that kind
of thing, and it doesn't always work because things have
moved on a bit and pop. You know, if you
look at Charlie XCX's Brat, if you look at Lord's Virgin,

(01:48:44):
these are messy pop albums there. They're all over the place.
They're sort of working themselves out.

Speaker 8 (01:48:50):
And this is not that.

Speaker 28 (01:48:51):
This is like a shiny, gleaming car, new car sitting
in a driveway, all spotless and yeah, right clean and dicise.

Speaker 19 (01:48:58):
You can feel the polish on it.

Speaker 2 (01:49:01):
I felt like it was a bit like, it's funny
that you said it was a bit of a muted response.
I felt like the elm itself was a bit mutant
like and maybe like I was expecting big stadium bangers perhaps, Yeah,
and that's where I kind of went wrong, Like it
felt a little bit low energy to me. And I've
only listened to it once, so like, you know, and
I'm no expert, but yeah, but I sort of expected

(01:49:22):
like really big radio play like hey we are and
said it was just like, oh, you know, like that
was that actually romantic? Was the probably the Catcher song?

Speaker 19 (01:49:31):
Yeah, Yeah, Elizabeth Taylor is the one that stood out
for ye me.

Speaker 8 (01:49:34):
Right.

Speaker 28 (01:49:35):
There could be a couple of reasons for that. You know,
it's coming from a different place. She's she's quite happy
in her life right now, like she's at the top
of the titem pole. She hasn't had a breakup. She's
she's engaged, she's getting married. You know, that doesn't necessarily
make for the most interesting art.

Speaker 10 (01:49:48):
Yeah.

Speaker 28 (01:49:49):
The other thing is she hasn't really given us a
break from like the Taylor swift, the pop culture phenomenon.
It's just been you biquitous for years now. She's she's
only just finished the Eras tour that went for two years,
one hundred and forty nine stops famously not New Zealand.

Speaker 19 (01:50:05):
By the way, we get that in.

Speaker 28 (01:50:06):
But there hasn't been a chance to build anticipation for this,
and I think even if she'd waited another six months,
it might have been more of an event.

Speaker 2 (01:50:14):
That's a good point. Actually, I wonder if, yeah, I
suppose it depends when the wedding's going to bell, there'll
be something that no doubt fits in with that relatively elegantly.
But yeah, it's yeah, you feel like it's kind of
just looking back a little bit.

Speaker 28 (01:50:29):
Maybe I would caution though that we did feel this
way about the Torture Poets Departments right at the time.
It does take time for these songs to sink in.

Speaker 19 (01:50:37):
There are hooks here.

Speaker 28 (01:50:39):
This is not a badly written album by any stretch
of the imagination. There's a few plunkers. I'd point out
wood the song would, which is apparently about her fiance.
There is a lot of innuendo in that song.

Speaker 19 (01:50:52):
Oh, I'm not going to say.

Speaker 2 (01:50:54):
Name alone suggestive.

Speaker 28 (01:50:55):
Yeah, okay, it's going where you think it's going to, right, right, Okay,
But but there's ear worms and they could take time
to really sink in.

Speaker 2 (01:51:04):
Yeah, this is the other thing again, Sometimes when you
I've only had a tiny little window to listen to
it once or twice, you don't fully appreciate what are
going to be the catchiest talks. What is the deal
with Charlie Xx?

Speaker 8 (01:51:13):
Do you know.

Speaker 19 (01:51:16):
Two grown men discussing dramas?

Speaker 2 (01:51:19):
Yeah?

Speaker 19 (01:51:19):
Yeah, no, so Charlie XCX. It goes back to.

Speaker 28 (01:51:26):
A relationship one of the nineteen seventy five members, and
they used to see each other backstage. Charlie XX write
a really nuanced song about it on Bratt about how
she'd see Charlie she'd see Taylor Swift backstage and realize
I could never be you. She put all this in
a song, okay, and this is Taylor Swift's.

Speaker 19 (01:51:44):
Response, She's yeah, she's heading back.

Speaker 28 (01:51:46):
But in a way that kind of feels a little mean,
do you know what I mean? Like Charlie x X
also did this to Lort and they worked it out
on the remix famously Girl so confusing, But Taylor Swift
isn't doing that, she really is just kind of it
feels like she's attacking Charlie X. When you're at the top,
you're always punch. It feels I mean that the reaction

(01:52:09):
to it has been that maybe she shouldn't have done.

Speaker 2 (01:52:12):
That, done that interesting. Okay, So what.

Speaker 4 (01:52:14):
Would you give it?

Speaker 19 (01:52:16):
I think i'd give it three and a half.

Speaker 3 (01:52:17):
Jack.

Speaker 19 (01:52:18):
It's not her best album by any shot.

Speaker 2 (01:52:20):
You know.

Speaker 28 (01:52:20):
The big criticism that's come out of the reviews I've
read is that she's done all of this before and better,
and I do agree with that, right, but I would
just caution that could move up to a four over time.
It's only been nineteen hours since this album came out.
That is not enough time to really get your head
around a Taylor Swift album.

Speaker 2 (01:52:36):
No, And the good news is, of course that we're
sittingly going to have plenty of time play of opportunity
because this album is going to be everwhere.

Speaker 28 (01:52:43):
If you want to go to the movie theaters this week,
in good luck, she is dominating movie theaters.

Speaker 2 (01:52:47):
See that's mate, Like, this is the thing. And I've
had a few texts come in this morning, So Jack, oh,
why why are you going on and on about Taylor Swift.
I mean, I'm not a big Taylor Swift fan necessarily,
but I can appreciate that she is a social phenomenon.
She is a colossus in our culture right now. So
thank you very much. Three and a half out of
five you reckon the Life of a show Girl is

(01:53:10):
worth We're gonna pick out the Life of a show Girl.
We'll play that song in a couple of minutes. On
News Talks, he'd be Chris Shultz. Of course, you can
find them on substack. His substack is called boiler Room.
We'll have a bit more of a listen to Tata
in a couple of seconds.

Speaker 1 (01:53:23):
Cracking way to start your Saturday. Saturday morning with Jack
Team News Talks, they'd.

Speaker 2 (01:53:28):
Be Okay, we are getting turfed out of the studio,
not quite, but thank you very much for all your
texts and emails and your company this morning. On News Talks,
he'd be Jason Pine Is with us for a weekend sport.
In a few minutes time. He'll be looking at the
All Blacks prospects and the second leader's low against the
Wallabies this evening ten forty five. Of course, we'll have

(01:53:49):
the game live. On News Talks, he'd be Elliott Smith
with the call this evening. Thanks to my producer Libby
for setting up everything this morning, for picking through Taylor
Swift's new album. The album's called The Life of a
show Girl. We're gonna leave you with the life of
a show girl. I'm back next week till then never
got one.

Speaker 10 (01:54:06):
The more you play, the.

Speaker 4 (01:54:07):
Mother you pay, you softer than a kitten.

Speaker 14 (01:54:11):
Sew.

Speaker 13 (01:54:11):
You don't know the life of so girl Bay, and
you never got a one off. She was a menace,
the baby of the family, Lennox.

Speaker 4 (01:54:25):
Her father ord around mycle Mende.

Speaker 13 (01:54:28):
Her mother took those and play tennis. So she waited
by the stage door, asked the club promotor arrived, she said,
it's my soul.

Speaker 21 (01:54:37):
To have a taste of a magnificent left.

Speaker 13 (01:54:40):
It's online, but that's love with showgirls gay they leave as.

Speaker 10 (01:54:46):
But okay, thank you.

Speaker 1 (01:54:50):
For the laser.

Speaker 27 (01:54:51):
Okay, you're sweeter than a breach by you donna with
a life of shower.

Speaker 13 (01:54:56):
Girl pay and she never ever been away.

Speaker 2 (01:55:01):
The more you pay, the more that you pay, you're.

Speaker 13 (01:55:04):
Softer than a kitten s You don't know the life.

Speaker 2 (01:55:08):
Of show girl, man, and you're never going to honor.

Speaker 13 (01:55:12):
I took a pearls of wizard, hung them from my neck.

Speaker 2 (01:55:15):
I pitted my doos with every purse.

Speaker 11 (01:55:17):
I knew what to ax me. Do you want to
take escape on the ice inside my veins?

Speaker 2 (01:55:22):
They ripped me off like full slashes in them, through
me away and.

Speaker 13 (01:55:26):
The shots on the walls of the dance color of
the bitches.

Speaker 3 (01:55:32):
Who is that?

Speaker 13 (01:55:33):
Hurry out?

Speaker 3 (01:55:37):
But I'm remord.

Speaker 13 (01:55:38):
Don't, no, baby, don't.

Speaker 18 (01:55:41):
I couldn't if I tried.

Speaker 12 (01:55:46):
So I say.

Speaker 10 (01:55:49):
Thank you for the of the booth.

Speaker 13 (01:55:51):
I'm married to the hustle, and now i know the
life of the shoulder, and.

Speaker 3 (01:55:58):
I'll never pay.

Speaker 13 (01:56:01):
Hidden by the lipstick and le secrets of the river,
and now I know the I love sucker.

Speaker 12 (01:56:23):
Than kiddy.

Speaker 4 (01:56:28):
Man money, be pretty and lady.

Speaker 2 (01:56:31):
Thank you for love, d.

Speaker 17 (01:56:38):
Thank you.

Speaker 1 (01:57:01):
For more From Saturday Morning with Jack Tame. Listen live
to news talks it'd be from I AM Saturday, or
follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.

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