What’s keeping us sane this winter (and third wave) of discontent
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It’s got a lot to do with the weather, and a lot to do with whatever number wave of whatever it is that is going around right now. But needless to say, we are staying in.
Our third winter in a pandemic doesn’t have to be completely depressing though. Somehow the world still keeps producing fresh Netflix content and there is a whole world of books you now have time to read. Here’s what’s keeping our Associate Editor Emma Macdonald happily distracted right now.
Screen
Borgen (Netflix)
This is for all you Teal candidate supporters out there. Long before we had our successful batch of Australian environmentally-focused female independents, there was Birgitte Nyborg. In 2010, the fictional Danish accidental politician, played by Sidse Babett Knudsen, arrived on our screens, showing how a quintessential Teal candidate could eventually rise to become the Danish Prime Minister. I for one fell hopelessly in love with Birgitte and was heartbroken when the series finished in 2013. So it was with delight that I welcomed her back into my living room with a fresh comeback series “Power and Glory” which was filmed earlier this year and is ridiculously current. This is a much darker chapter for our hero, in which Brigitte as Foreign Minister becomes ensnared in a global oil fight involving Greenland, China, Russia and the United States. She is also divorced, menopausal, and fighting with her young adult son. It’s a lot. If you haven’t seen the first series you simply must watch it before moving into the latest one. I warn you that it is almost impossible not to come away with an enormous girlcrush on Brigitte. Hell yes I would vote for her!
The Split (Stan)
OK I was late to the party on this one as it is we only got Stan in the last lockdown, not the first. Having become obsessed with Hannah Stern during her time in Unforgotten and just about everything else she has been in, I was keen to see her play the role of a leading British divorce lawyer whose own 20-year union crumbles around her ears amid infidelity and what she described as “the shit and vomit” that makes up at least 50 per cent of every marriage. Does that sound depressing? Well yes, at first it is, and if you are watching it with your betrothed then there will be a certain amount of uncomfortable truths that come up in each episode. And yet the themes that surface through this drama are intricate and sensitive, like every relationship, and provide food for thought on how we treat those we choose to love the most.
The Twelve (Foxtel)
Are you watching this? Quick! You simply must! This new Australian crime drama from Foxtel is intriguing, well-acted and honestly I am hooked. I won’t divulge my own theories on who is guilty, but subversive artist Kate, played by Kate Mulvaney, is on trial for murdering her 14-year old niece. Sam Neill plays her lawyer while Marta Dusseldorp plays the prosecution. The drama focuses on the lives and prejudices of the 12-member jury, with every member going through their own personal trails behind the scenes of the courtroom drama. My only question is why won’t they let us have it all at once? The suspense is killing me!
Books
Working Class Boy and Working Class Man by Jimmy Barns.
Jimmy Barnes is coming to Canberra for the Writer’s Festival next month so I have been submerging myself in his two-part autobiography. These books set the autobiography bar at a new level as Jimmy’s storytelling is mesmerising. Think Angela’s Ashes with a driving guitar and an amp turned up to 11. So even if you aren’t into Cold Chisel or Australian pub rock (I wouldn’t necessarily say I was either) you will soon realise this is not the story of a music legend, but the story of survival. Jimmy is a child traumatised by poverty, violence and alcohol, who survives into adulthood trying to numb himself. That he becomes an Australian rock icon along the way isn’t even the point of the narrative really, but it does mean he has access to every numbing substance known to man or woman, and much of the books detail his descent into near oblivion as he runs from himself. It is the arrival of Jane in his life (they meet in Canberra!) that ultimately saves Jimmy as he is able to build a family with a woman whose unconditional support allows him to finally face his numerous demons. Honestly, as far as love stories go this one has it all. And for those who do love their Rock N’ Roll, there are enough anecdotes of on and off-stage antics to prove that Jimmy surely is the hardest working man in the industry.
Try Hard by Em Rusciano.
In a similar vein I am swotting up on all things Em Rusciano before she delivers a National Press Club Address next month. I began tuning into her Emsolation Podcast a year into the pandemic and have become a huge fan of this big-hearted, soul-baring, glitter-encrusted and pop-culture obsessed talkaholic who shares the pod with her gusband and childhood bestie Michael Lucas. Last year Em was diagnosed with ADHD and reading her 2016 memoir is heart-wrenching as she plainly grapples with a neurodivergent brain in a neurotypical world. Only she didn’t know this back then. The fact that she negotiates a career via reality TV (Australian Idol), high-rating radio shows, and stand-up comedy means there is no place for Em to hide. But she has made openness her superpower. Try Hard is an achingly personal story of one girl’s journey to adulthood with no filter on the awkward, embarrassing, tear-jerking parts that have invariably contributed to making her the legend she is today. Humbling.
Out of the Box by Izzy, Emmie and Kerry Silbery
I am one for the grand statement. So I may have said when Gogglebox arrived on our TVs that there was “no way I am watching a show about other people watching TV. That would be beneath me.” Of course I have had to eat my words (and honestly not even Byron Baes is beneath me these days so who was I kidding). One of my favourite families is the Silberys – a triumvirate of formidable women—grandmother, daughter and granddaughter. They published a book earlier this year which, much the same way as Gogglebox did, surprised me with its humanity. Taking each woman’s perspective, Out of the Box traverses the most monumental issues in any woman’s life: body image, sex, marriage, infidelity, divorce, ageing, children, work, finding purpose, finances, and love. By providing three generations’ perspectives on each topic, every stage of a woman’s life is unpacked with acceptance and a good dose of humour. Of course these women have also endured heartbreak, and Emmie’s stories will surely bring you to tears. But there are pearls of wisdom on almost every page and once I started this book I didn’t put it down until it was finished.
