Episode 278: Summertime Sadness and Pop Culture Picks

Kate has a quiet birthday and Doree has a not quiet vacation. Then, they talk about their current pop culture picks for books, film and TV, and why they’re feeling a bit of that summertime sadness.

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Transcript

Kate: Hey everybody. Welcome to Forever35, a podcast about the things we do to take care of ourselves. I am Kate Spencer.

Doree: And I'm Doree Shafrir.

Kate: And we are not experts.

Doree: We're not, we're two friends who like to talk a lot about serums.

Kate: Now you know what, Doree, am I allowed to share what you just said before we started recording?

Doree: Go ahead, Kate.

Kate: So if you've been listening to this podcast for a while, you may be familiar with our conversation about free mugging, which is truly what it sounds like. Just people who walk around with a big, regular old ceramic mug. Maybe you drive in the car with one of them. That's what I do. Doree just knocked something around on her desk as we were about to start this recording, and I just hear her mutter under her breath. This is why I don't free mug. You weren't even saying it to me was like,

Doree: I mean was

Kate: Because you have a mug of coffee right now at your desk.

Doree: I do. I do. And I jostled it and a tiny little bit splashed on my keyboard and everything is fine. But I was like, oh yeah, this is why I don't do this. I can't be trusted.

Kate: No, you know what? You are. You right. And actually, I do think one of the most precarious locations to free mug, which I do do, but I try to be conscious of it, is near a computer because liquid.

Doree: Oh yes, totally, totally.

Kate: You would think with the advances that have been made in technology, they would've figured out how to make it so that a drop of water on a keyboard doesn't destroy an entire laptop. Literally ai, they can create your human likeness in ai, but they can't figure that out.

Doree: I mean, I don't know. I don't get it.

Kate: You think it's kind of done on purpose? Am I a conspiracy theorist about this? Maybe?

Doree: Well, I mean, AppleCare used to not cover liquids.

Kate: I know it because I have destroyed a computer with a water bottle in a bag,

Doree: But now they, they do cover liquids as far as I know, so

Kate: Wow.

Doree: I believe that that changed. But still, you don't want it to happen to your computer.

Kate: No, it is the absolute worst. And I am someone who has gone to pee and had her phone in her butt pocket and had the phone fall on the toilet.

Doree: Oh, fall out. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Been there.

Kate: And then you're searching for rice to put your phone in and then your phone is dead. The water is truly a whole thing.

Doree: Water is a whole thing. Yeah,

Kate: It's a whole thing. So I respect you, respect your desire not to have a mug at your desk. And I heard that mutter and I, it really made me chuckle,

Doree: Kate.

Kate: Yes.

Doree: How's it? How's it going over there?

Kate: Well, my birthday has passed and I made a big to-do on this podcast about I'm going to figure out something to do for my birthday, and then I did absolutely nothing. And that felt like the right choice. That felt like the right choice.

Doree: I love that.

Kate: I kind of came to a realization about myself that I'm still working through and because I've been doing a lot of a little self-reflection this year, and something dawned on me, and I shared this with my therapist this week, which is, I think I've used the term extroverted introvert or introvert extrovert to describe myself. And I actually think that's not what I am. I think what I am is an extroverted empath or empathic person.

Doree: Okay.

Kate: Doree. I don't know. I think I'm, I have been doing a lot of thinking about myself and what am I and why am I this way and what do I need? So just went out to dinner with my husband for my birthday. That was it.

Doree: Nice.

Kate: And that was great. That was perfect

Doree: What you needed.

Kate: It was what I needed. And also, as I have been doing a lot of work on, I don't know, some things in my life I've decided that I might be into vinyl. I hear you laughing. I know it's a laughter of love. I know. It's a laughter of love.

Doree: Totally. It is, it is.

Kate: I Know, Iknow

Doree: I appreciate your enthusiasms.

Kate: I will just tell you this, I was at my friend's house having a very hard couple of days recently, and we did a lot of sitting around and talking while records played, and I was like, this is really nice. I've never, I've always thought records were stupid and pointless. Yeah, I have never, I've always been like, why would we need a record player? Why would anyone buy records? It feels a little like, okay, I get it. You love vinyl. Yeah, I was a little judgy, a little eye rolly.

Doree: Oh my God.

Kate: And then I had this completely soothing, relaxing experience. I loved the choosing of the music and just the intentionality that went into it. And so I asked Anthony to get me a record player for my birthday, which he did, and he also bought me some albums, which is really amazing. And he brought me some really great ones. I was really pleased. And I just have been listening to records and it's felt really nice.

Doree: I love this

Kate: Kind of, as part of a larger practice in, I don't know, just reflecting on a lot of the ways in which I have come to expect immediate gratification and the ways in which that doesn't serve me. I've been doing a lot of thinking about this, so I am exploring what it's like being a record player person. If anyone has any albums that I must get on vinyl, I mean, this feels very subjective because we all have different tastes in music, but I'm open to suggestions.

Doree: Well, welcome to this new phase of your life.

Kate: Do you have a record player?

Doree: Yeah, we have a record player.

Kate: This feels very much mid forties moment for me.

Doree: Yeah, I mean, records are great. We had a record player growing up. I always enjoyed listening to records. I had a small record collection in college and beyond. I haven't actively listened to records in a while though, but I enjoy records.

Kate: See, I had a record player when I was a kid. I can, one of the first records I remember owning was Thriller by Michael Jackson. You'd open it up and he was posing with a leopard. I don't know if this is part of your childhood, but the opening of the album is a visceral feeling that I could still remember. I had that and a Sesame Street record. That's all I remember. And then I had tapes and CDs and I have not come back to the record player. And Anthony is also, he has not been a record person until he got me this record player. And now he is into the records oftentimes. Yeah. I've walked in and he's like, just bopping out to some Joni Mitchell on a record, and he bought himself a jazz record.

Doree: I love that. I mean, look, embrace it,

Kate: I am loving it. Listen, I'm going. My theme for the year, I'm turning inward. I'm putting on records, turning off Spotify, what are you doing over there? How are you feeling? You have been sick and that is no fun.

Doree: Yeah. So I got sort of comically sick on vacation. I'm fine.

Kate: You went to Doree. Wait, tell the people how many times you went to urgent care whilst visiting your family in on the east coasts.

Doree: I went twice also. I went twice in the span of three days. I went on a Monday and then I went back on Wednesday for teo

Kate: That's a lot of urgent care

Doree: For two totally different ailments,

Kate: Completely disconnected from each other.

Doree: It was just like, what is happening is my body just breaking down? So I'm sure everyone remembers my whole saga with my toe last year, two years ago, whenever that was. And oh my God, it was like two years ago. And when I was in Boston, I started feeling like a pressure, kind of pressure on my toe, and it was looking sort of red beneath the nail and not underneath the nail, but on my toe joint or whatever it is. And I was like, oh no, I think this is happening again. And because I went through the whole experience last time where I did, I went on antibiotics and I had a whole thing. I was I to, can't just hope this goes away. This is an actual thing. So I went to an urgent care, had a very nice doctor who was like, yes, this is an actual thing. You have a bacterial infection on your toe. I am prescribing you a combination antibiotic, I think the concern. And he was like, I'm not really concerned. I don't really think this is going to happen. But the concern is you don't want to get staff.

Kate: Yeah, you don't. That would really be bad.

Doree: So it's, you kind of want to head that off. And he told me to soak it twice, one to two times a day to get things loose, open it up. And then he was like, and come back on Thursday or Friday if it hasn't gotten better. And he was like, you'll know if it hasn't gotten better, it will get bigger gross. And I was like, well, I'm flying home on Thursday. And he said, okay, well then Wednesday afternoon, just see how it's doing. We might need to lance it. And I was like, Ooh, okay. Well good to know. But come Wednesday, it did look like it was getting better, but I developed another ailment, which was my ear was killing me.

Kate: Oh, Doree.

Doree: I was having shooting pains in my ear, my right ear, and I was like,

Kate: you had the adult ear infection.

Doree: I was like, what the fuck? Do I have an ear infection? I also felt like I was getting a cold. So there was a minute where I was like, is this connected to the cold? Maybe it was. But I went back to the urgent care and when I checked in, the woman was like, wait, you were just here. She looked me up on the computer and I was for something else. Today I have an ear infection and she said, oh, we've had a lot of ear infections today and fall.

Kate: Just in that day

Doree: she said, ear infections and falls. Now the falls is not that surprising because I went to an urgent care in a part of Boston that I think has, that has a lot of older people. And in fact, in the waiting room at that second time I went, I was the youngest in the waiting room by at least 20 years and I'm 46.

Kate: Oh, goodness.

Doree: So people were old. Anyway, so I go in, the nurse looks at my ear and she's like, I think you have an outer ear infection. And then the doctor had to come in and confirm and he's like, it looks a little red, but I don't think you have an ear infection, but I can give you a prescription for antibiotics that you can keep in your back pocket. I was like, well, I'm flying tomorrow, so I think I'm just going to fill it. He's like, yeah, that's a good idea. And then I'm like, really? You don't think I have an ear infection? She's like, no. But if it was basically, if you're still in pain tomorrow, start taking the antibiotics. I was like, okay. And it was eardrops and then the nurse came back in and I got this vibe from her that she couldn't say, I think the doctor is wrong. You actually have an ear infection. But the way she was like, you might as well just start taking the antibiotics today. Made me think she thought the doctor was full of shit and that I did have an ear infection. So I did start on the antibiotics and then I also was getting a cold, I dunno, Kate, it was

Kate: And then you got a fever.

Doree: And then I had a fever, I got home and I, we flew back and I had a fever, not a high fever, but I had a 100.2 and I was just, I feel like trash. I feel like.

Kate: You just felt like shit. Huh?

Doree: I just felt like shit. And it didn't help that the morning after we got back, Henry woke up at 3:10 in the morning.

Kate: It doesn't help.

Doree: And even though I did not wake up at three 10 in the morning, he came in and woke me up at 4:45 or something, which is still quite early, especially considering I was sick. So it was like, I'm tired, I have a cold, I have an ear infection, my toe is infected. I dunno. Kate,

Kate: And I don't know if I talked about this in the podcast, but I had the flu a few weeks ago that really knocked me in my ass for a week and a half, two weeks. And it was just, my body was just like, couldn't quite come back from it. And I empathize. I wonder too, I mean I think summer is a notorious time to get these kind of cold flu things. Totally. And obviously there's so many reasons why stuff, stuff is going around. People are now masking less, we're all getting infections that maybe we're put off for the last couple of years. Plus Covid obviously still around, but it really does a number on you. And I think there's a mental component to being sick too. I get really depressed whenever I'm very sick and I'm like, I'm not saying anything groundbreaking, but in addition to physically feeling really wiped out, there's just kind of the mental part that goes along with it. And it sucks.

Doree: Totally. And also my ear didn't really stop hurting till Friday afternoon or Friday. I don't know. I came home and my ear was still killing me, and then I feel like it kind of eased up the next day. But I was like, could my ear just stop hurting? It was those shooting pains. You know what I'm talking about?

Kate: Yeah. That's miserable. I do. I had an ear infection this year also.

Doree: Yeah. I remember?

Kate: It's so weird.

Doree: So who knows? Now Matt has a cold,

Kate: That's the season of a summer cold.

Doree: It's the season of a summer cold. It's the travel, it's the lack of sleep, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. But I do feel like I've turned the corner. I'm on the mend and yeah.

Kate: Do you think this was what Lana Del Ray was singing about in her song? Summertime Sadness, talking about colds, summer colds?

Doree: Maybe. Maybe. Maybe she was. Lana gets it. Alright.

Kate: She gets it. She gets literally, she gets it. She gets colds in the summer.

Doree: Totally. Kate, let's take a little break, but before we take a break, I do just want to remind everyone that we are on Patreon at patreon.com/forever35. If you don't want to listen to the ads, if you're sick of fast forwarding through ads, I got you. At the $10 tier, you can get ad free episodes. These go up on Patreon without ads and you can connect it to your podcast player and they go right into your podcast player.

Kate: No ads baby. No ads. No ads.

Doree: So

Kate: What a life.

Doree: A life. And then at the $5 level, you get everything, all the content that we produce Season one, which is our TV rewatch podcast of we're doing the oc, which has been so fun.

Kate: It's been really fun. I having, I feel like an entire world has just recently opened up to me in terms of this show. Just well,

Doree: Yeah, you probably understand a cultural context in a different way.

Kate: And you know what, it's kind of weirdly nice, but also weirdly not nice to revisit 2003.

Doree: Totally.

Kate: You're like, this is fun. I'm glad I don't still live in this year.

Doree: Yeah, well, because every time you're like, and that wasn't that long ago. One of the characters says something where you're like, oh yeah,

Kate: Some things have changed for the better since time.

Doree: Exactly. And then we're also doing basically mini episodes over there as well, where we're only taking questions from our Patreon supporters and oh, also at the $10 level, you get your name right on the podcast each month. And we'll be reading some names at the end of this episode.

Kate: I can't wait. Can't wait.

Doree: So you can get all of that at patreon.com/forever35. Our website is still going forever35podcast.com. We have links to everything we mention on the show over there. We're on Instagram @Forever35podcast. Our newsletter is at Forever35podcast.com/newsletter. And of course you can call or text us at (781) 591-0390 and email us at forever35podcast@gmail.com. And when we come back, we're going to be talking about our summer pics for some books, movies, music, tv, all the things.

Kate: I can't wait, Doree, because I have some thoughts on things.

Doree: Alright, we'll be right back. Okay. We are back.

Kate: Here we are. Here we are. I am in a self-help book moment. That's what is going on for me with books this summer. So maybe we can break down kind of where we are in terms of our pop culture consumption for the summer. What are our things? What are the things we want to be consuming? What are we interested in? I mean, look, are we all going to see Barbie? Yes. It's like all I think about

Doree: I, I'm planning on seeing it in the Theater

Kate: A hundred p, but why don't we start with books? Because I basically am in this bizarro self-help book spiral, not self-help book, but kind of like non-fiction, how to Change Your Life Book Spiral, which I'm enjoying immensely, but I'm also reading some fiction that is intriguing.

Doree: Okay, I'm listening.

Kate: So I loved, loved, loved, loved Rachel Cargle's book. If you haven't listened to our episode with Rachel that aired a couple weeks ago, I cannot recommend it enough. Her new book is called A Renaissance of Our Own, A Memoir and Manifesto on Re-Imagining. I just freaking loved it. And her book led me to Marley Grace's book, how to Not Always Be Working. And I just finished that and I listened to that on audiobook via the library. But I also adored this book. Marley Grace is a dancer and a writer and a crafter who I was not familiar with their work, but I found them to be extremely insightful. Also, at the time of the writing of this book, I believe they were 29 years old. So I was like, wow, Marley, you contain a lot of wisdom for a person in their twenties, and I'm a person in my forties learning from you. But it's just a really thoughtful book about creativity and boundaries and rest and ritual. And it's very realistic. They talk a lot about breaking their own cell phone addiction or focusing on that. I don't think breaking is an accurate term, but noting and noticing and things they've done to mitigate their cell phone usage, which is, and social media usage, which is a very big ongoing thing that I am examining in my own life. And I just thought this was such a delightful book. And it was just a beautiful kind of read after Rachel's book, which again, I loved

Doree: When I went away, when I went on vacation, I took Facebook and Twitter off my phone.

Kate: You did

Doree: And I didn't check them.

Kate: And it felt good

Doree: And it felt really good. And what was so funny is Facebook starts to get really thirsty when you stop logging in. So I suddenly started every day getting multiple emails from Facebook being your friend John Smith posted blah, blah, blah, and basically trying to entice me to come and look at Facebook.

Kate: Seriously? Are you serious?

Doree: Yes. It was wild. I was like, oh my God, Facebook, calm down. I'm just, it was fascinating. It was just fascinating.

Kate: DuoLingo does that too. It'll be like, we miss you. Why are you abandoning us?

Doree: Yeah. Yeah. And it was trying to get me to find some of these. Oh yeah, it'll be so and so. Posted an update and so commented on this other person's post you haven't seen. And so recently posted a new photo. I was getting so-and-so shared a link. Okay. But it was so funny because I don't normally get these emails from Facebook because I'm on Facebook a lot and now I wasn't on it. And they were like, what's going on?

Kate: And it's look like I see the value in social media, but also these are things that are meant to, the intention is for us to spend our time on them and they're trying to suck us back in.

Doree: Yeah. I just thought that was so interesting. It was so obvious what was happening. And I haven't put Facebook and Twitter back on my phone. I'm checking it now on my computer, but I don't have it on my phone. And I think I might stick that. It's funny though. I have a couple of group, sorry. And then we can get back to you. I just wanted to mention,

Kate: take it, this is a conversation, this is a two-way street.

Doree: A couple. There would be people who would send screen grabs of things on Facebook and be like, did you guys see this? Or whatever. And I'm like, no, I didn't. I didn't feel like I was missing anything usually.

Kate: Yeah, I I'm going through a little bit of this and it's very interesting.

Doree: Very Interesting. Yeah, it was very interesting. But I, I don't know, I'm wondering if anyone else has had that experience where Facebook starts freaking out that you haven't been checking.

Kate: Well, then it was like, here, let me introduce you a new social media platform Threads.

Doree: Oh yeah. Threads launched while I was away. And I was like, no way. I'm not going to do it. What part of it's, oh my God, I did not realize I was going to go on this tangent.

Kate: Ride this wave, please.

Doree: Here is is the wave. I just don't have that much to say. So when you talk about being on Twitter, Facebook, blue Sky, Instagram threads, TikTok, TikTok, all of these things, I'm like, okay, I do see some people posting literally the same thing to every social media platform. I think that's annoying. At the same time, come crafting posts and missives for every single social media platform. It's like I'm just one person. I, I also have podcasts. I don't know, does the world need that much of me?

Kate: I'm going to go out and I say this respectfully, no, it doesn't need this much of any of us. And also, we don't need to be giving the world this much of ourselves, not the world, but these fucking platforms.

Doree: So I'm not on Blue Sky, I'm not on threads. I, I barely post to Twitter anymore. I'm really only on Facebook for a few groups that I'm in. And Instagram I do post to a little bit more frequently. But these other things, I'm just, I, and I realize I sound really like old man yells at cloud, but I cant,

Kate: No, I mean, agree with you. I did join Threads. I didn't follow anybody, but I actually find threads really hard to digest visually. I don't know if that's just my brain, but I look at it and I'm like, I can't truly follow it. And it also just seems like they slapped some new paint on an old thing, which is fine. Twitter is toxic. Don't go on Twitter. But yeah, I mean this personally, and I've talked about this kind of sporadically on the show, but there's a lot of pressure professionally to be on social media for me as an author and even a podcaster. But I struggled with the ways in which it exacerbates a lot of my mental biggest mental health issues. And so I've often feel caught between feeling like I should be online, going online, and then it making me not feel good and not really knowing how to find strike a balance. So I think that is what that is has set off a lot of me doing a lot of this kind of reading. I'll mention one more audio book that I'm listening to, which I'm not quite sure I'm into yet, but it is called Dopamine Nation Finding Balance in the Age of Indulgence. I'm Intrigued. I think dopamine has become a buzzword in the last year or two. But I also do think I have a very problematic relationship to scrolling and social media and my phone instant gratification and online shopping and all these things. But what's fascinating, I'm not that far into the book, but the author talks about how she got addicted to Smutty Romance novels, and I was kind of like, oh, this is my passion and she's talking about how bad it is. So I was a little bit like, oh, interesting. I see. See the point she's trying to make. But she also does a little bit of talking down about romance, which really bothers me.

Doree: Oh, that's annoying.

Kate: Not to say that it isn't like that. There isn't this kind of behavior of a dopamine hit fix through reading. But yeah, I thought that was interesting. Anyway, I don't know. I did also just finish the book. Angelica Frankenstein makes her Match by Sally Thorn. A wild read,

Doree: Really?

Kate: It's a romance. Sally is the author of The Hating Game, a book that I have loved forever. She's a romance author who I really like. And this is her fourth book. And it's a real risk of a book. I mean, because she is portraying a member of the Frankenstein family essentially creating from Dead Body parts their dream partner. Oh, it's definitely, it's weird. It doesn't always work. But I really, really admire the way that she takes a huge risk as an author. And also the book to me ends up being really about grief. I actually thought it was kind of a beautiful book about grief and loss and searching, but it's definitely, it's not for everybody, but I enjoyed it.

Doree: Well, that's very cool.

Kate: So that's where I'm at with my books. How about you? Are you reading anything?

Doree: Well, I just finished a book by our friend Jacqueline Wind Spear,

Kate: Oh my gosh. Past Forever35 guest slash

Doree: Past Forever35 guest,

Kate: Your muse,

Doree: Author of the Maisie Dobbs series. She has written what I seems, she seems to be positioning it as the first book in a new series. It's called The wom, no, sorry, it's called The White Lady. It came out a few months ago. It came out in March, I believe. And it's the main character, a mysterious woman named Eleanor White. But it touches on a lot of the same themes as she touches on in Maisie Dobbs, a lot of war trauma and PTSD. It takes place right after the second World War, but there's a lot of stuff that has to do with the First World War. It's told in two timelines. And yeah, I liked it. I didn't want to say I loved it. It's a little slow. And the central mystery, this isn't really giving anything away because this happens in the first 10 pages. The central mystery is they're trying to figure out something that hasn't happened yet. So it feels a little like they're trying to stop a crime, which is a little bit different than solving a crime.

Kate: I see what you're saying.

Doree: Do you know what I mean? But I enjoyed it. If you like Maisie Dobbs, I think you'll like this book. I also read the Queen Charlotte a Bridgeton story, which is the book that's based on the show, queen Charlotte instead of the Other Way around. Bridgerton, the series is based on the Bridger series, but then Julia Quinn and Shonda Rhimes kind of like Reconned, this Queen Charlotte book, which is interesting because the Bridgeton series kind of reinterprets Julia Quinn's books and it's a much more diverse cast and world, and they, it's a alternative history where members of the royal family were black and of the aristocracy. And so that is also the case in Queen Charlotte, the book, which is kind of interesting. It's just different than the rest of, it's not a really a Bridgeton book.

Kate: Have you watched Queen Charlotte on TV yet?

Doree: I have not

Kate: I have that on my to watch list. I'm very excited to watch it, but I haven't watched it yet. I wonder what I should do first.

Doree: I think I would probably watch.

Kate: Okay.

Doree: I thought the book was good, but darker than I was expecting.

Kate: Oh, Okay.

Doree: Because it's about the marriage of Charlotte and King George, the mad quote King who suffered from mental illness and possibly schizophrenia. They don't really know what was wrong with him. And a lot of it is about their relationship and navigating a relationship where one member of the partnership is really struggling with mental illness. So it was definitely not like a light rom, which is kind of what I was expecting.

Kate: Yeah. That's what I would've expected too. Okay. Fascinating. Yeah. I wonder if the series is a light rom. I've heard, I mean, I've heard the Queen. Charlotte's great. I'm dying to watch it,

Doree: So I would assume, I would assume they touch on the same themes because the book is based on the show. And then I did just get a copy, and I'm excited to read this. I just got a copy of the new book by Ben Mackenzie, a k a Ryan on theOC. Oh my gosh. He wrote a book on crypto called Easy Money, and he has been loud and proud about his distaste for the crypto industry and exposing it as a scam. And he wrote a book with a journalist named Jacob Silverman that is supposed to be exposing it. And I just got it, and I'm excited to read it.

Kate: Ooh, Doree. That's a hot get.

Doree: Yeah.

Kate: Do you have any shows that you're watching? Is there anything on TV that you are adding to the list?

Doree: Okay, so on the plane home from Boston, I didn't have anything that I was reading. And I was like, you know what? I'm just going to watch something on the Seatback Entertainment. I started watching the Whitney Houston movie. I Want to Dance With Somebody. Have you seen it?

Kate: I haven't.

Doree: It was good. About an hour and a half into it. I was like, oh, I still have an hour and 15 minutes to go of this movie, and I'm kind of losing interest. And

Kate: You dnf, as we say in the writing world.

Doree: I dnf. I dnf and I love Whitney Houston, and I think her life story is fascinating. I found it a little bit slow, to be honest. And so then I was sort of casting about for something else to watch, I watch an episode of Million Dollar Listing LA, which I enjoy, but it's also the people are so gross that I was like, I can't take more than one episode of this show. And then I was like, you know what? I need a lighthearted comedy. So I was like, oh, they have ghosts on this airplane,

Kate: The American version of the British show,

Doree: The American version. And I'd heard about this show when it first aired and thought, oh, that sounds fun. And just never watched it. So I queued it up and it was exactly what I needed. It was perfect.

Kate: It's light.

Doree: It's light. It's 22 minutes each episode. Not to long perfectly. It has funny, it has Brandon Scott Jones, who I think is just, oh, he's so funny. So funny. It's about a couple who inherit an upstate New York mansion that is haunted by a motley crew of ghosts. And then one of the people, the wife of the couple has a near-death experience. And from then on, she's able to communicate with the ghosts and hilarity ensues, but also some very poignant moments. And it's funny, it's sweet. It's charming. Did I mention it's short?

Kate: Yeah, 22 minutes. You did? It's easy to follow.

Doree: It's easy to follow.

Kate: I also watch ghosts. I like ghosts. Yeah.

Doree: It's like, why did no one tell me to just watch ghosts?

Kate: It's like the perfect cozy show.

Doree: Yes, Exactly.

Kate: It's just, Yeah, it's a great,

Doree: It's delightful.

Kate: My kids are the ones who got me into it. So they were watching ghosts and then I would just kind of plop down and then I was like, oh, I also love ghosts. And we all watch ghosts

Doree: And it's like a network sitcom, so it is really appropriate for the entire family. And then I just kept watching it since I got home.

Kate: Doree Shafrir Ghosts Stan. Ghost fan.

Doree: Oh gosh. And what we do in The Shadows came back.

Kate: Are you caught up? I'm caught up.

Doree: I'm caught up. Are you caught up?

Kate: I watched the first two episodes. I owe you credit for introducing me to that show and making me stick with it.

Doree: It took you a while, but

Kate: Took me a while.

Doree: Now you get it. Now you get it.

Kate: Oh, I get it. And I love it. I also working my way through the Bear Doree. I'm working my way through the bear.

Doree: Okay, so I'm curious what you think of the Bear. I like the bear, and I think I watched five episodes of season one when it came out. And then it was so intense and there was just so much shouting intensity. And I was like, I'm just not in the right head space for this right now. You ever get that way with a show?

Kate: Yes, I do. And I have not. People are bonkers for the bear, and I feel like I am lukewarm for it, and I'll watch it when the mood strikes, but I'm not, I'm still, I'm actually just finishing season one. I did the same thing where I watched half of it and then I was like this, I'm tired. This wears me out. So I took a bear break, but now I'm back.

Doree: Okay. Okay.

Kate: I'm dipping a toe. I'm going to probably watch And just like that because that has the same kind of coziness to me as ghosts of just like, I can just curl up and just watch this. And what can I give a shout out to a TV show that my husband worked on,

Doree: Please. Kate,

Kate: Y'all. My husband works on the show, the after party, which you can find on Apple tv. And it is a murder mystery comedy show. And every episode is told in a different genre. Now that is a mouthful, but let me tell you, they pull it off. Well, in this second season, you don't really need to watch the first season, but the first season's also good, but you don't need to watch it to understand the second season. But it is such a funny show and the genres they do this time. I just want to say that if you are a fan of the Pride and Prejudice movie, you are going to want to tune in and they drop a lot of clues. It's very fun trying to solve the mystery of the show. It's Tiffany Haddish, Sam Richardson. And I just want to say John Cho is in this season and he's so hot. I don't know how to handle it. He's always hot, but he is really hot on this show. It's a great cast. It's a great show. It's really funny. So if you want a kind of a funny, smart, weird show, might I suggest the after party.

Doree: I really like the after party, and that is reminding me that I need to catch up on it because I did really enjoy the episodes that I saw. It's very clever and very funny.

Kate: It's very clever. It's very, very clever. And I will say right now, this is very Los Angeles, but it does impact the whole many people. There is a writer's strike for folks who are screenwriters and also SAG actors. So if you are an actor appearing in TV or film, you are there currently on strike, but there is no call to stop watching and consuming movies and tv. In fact, supporting and watching and cheerleading for the people who make this stuff is really important. So I just want to note that I do think that can be a little confusing. It's like, how do I support these people who are striking? Should I not? So should I not watch the things on these networks that they're negotiating with? And what I understand is that they would like you to watch. So in Yeah, I would say there

Doree: Until you hear otherwise.

Kate: Yeah, go see Barbie. Go see Oppenheimer. And Oh, you know what a movie I want to see Doree passed lives, which Sam Junio saw, and they said it was great.

Doree: Oh, okay. That's a good inspiration.

Kate: It's a romance. It's a romance.

Doree: Okay. Okay.

Kate: Starring Greta Lee, who I love.

Doree: Alright, Kate, let's take another little break because we have been chatting for quite some time

Kate: We really have.

Doree: Yeah.

Kate: All right. Let's eke out these intentions for the week here.

Doree: Let's do that.

Kate: Mine is a bit of a cop out Doree, but I'm going to stand by this cop out.

Doree: Okay, I'm listening.

Kate: My intention from last week was to write letters to my friends, and I didn't do it, but I'm keeping this as my intention because it's important to me and I want to keep my focus on writing handwriting letters to my friends. Okay. So there you go.

Doree: Okay. Okay. Well, Kate, I last week was going to figure out Matt's birthday. I still have not done that. And Matt, his birthday is rapidly approaching, so I really need to get on that. And my intention for this week is to stop feeling lumpy. I've just been feeling like lumpy lately.

Kate: Now, you used this word in a text message to me and I said, is that a good feeling or a bad feeling?

Doree: It's not a great feeling. I just feel like a lump, just like I'm feeling like unmotivated and tired and it's really hot outside and

Kate: You're getting over a cold.

Doree: I'm getting over a cold. I think I have the summer blues. I think I have the summertime sadness,

Kate: Summertime sadness title of this episode, because it's a real thing. Yeah.

Doree: Yeah. So I think the summertime sadness

Kate: the Summer Blues. Summer blues are legit. It's su. The summer is the weirdest time of year.

Doree: Yeah, it's very strange. So

Kate: I'm sorry you're feeling summertime sadness.

Doree: Well, thank you, Kate. Now Kate, this is the part of the show where we are going to thank our $10 month Patreon supporters. If you would like your name read on our podcast each month as a thank you, visit patreon.com/forever35. And again, this is a little bonus slash measure of gratitude for our $10 a month supporters. So thank you to the following people. Oh, and I should also mention if we are mispronouncing your name, there is a way in Patreon to change your name in Patreon and you can put in the pronunciation of your name so we know how to read it.

Kate: I appreciate that because

Doree: We're taking this, we're just taking this straight from Patreon. So I'm sorry if I mispronouncing your name. Please do not hesitate to correct us. Alright. Thank you to the following people. Amanda Lady, Amanda Sheer, Amy Masako, Andrea Sepulveda, Angie James, Ann Towrudum, Becky Hobbes Haer, Beth, Brianne, Macy, Caroline, CC, Coco Bean, Courtney, Diana, Diana M. Martin, Dr. Josie Alquist, E Jackson, Elizabeth Anderson, Elizabeth Cleary, Elizabeth Holland, Emily Bruer, Emily McIntyre, Evelyn Sch, Hannah Moss, Heather Kinka, Heather S, JDK, Jennifer Barrett, Jennifer HS, Jennifer Olsson, Jennifer Steele, Jess Bin, Jessica Gale, Julian Bowman, Joanna Stone, Josie Zi, Julia Putt, Juliana Dpe, Juliana Duff, Julie McLaren, Karaman, Karen Perlman, Kate M, Catherine Ellingson, Katie Tron, Kelly Dearborn, Carrie Gold, Kirsten Collins, Laura Hadden, Liz Rain, Marissa Morris. Monica.

Kate: You forgot Lisa Travis.

Doree: I forgot Lisa Travis?

Kate: I think so.

Doree: Okay.

Kate: Just cutting in for a Lisa Travis, shout out.

Doree: Hey, Lisa, Travis, Monica, Nick, Nikki Bossert, Rachel Anderson, Sarah Egan, Stephanie Germana, Tara Todd, Tiffany and Zulema Lundy.

Kate: Wow, you nailed that. I was having a lot of anxiety about reading all the names, and you took over and you handled it for me, and I appreciate that.

Doree: Oh, well you can read this last part, Kate.

Kate: Well, first of all, we want to reextend our gratitude to those folks and also remind you that Forever35 is hosted and produced by us Doree Shafrir and Kate Spencer. It's produced and edited by Sam Junio. Sammy Reed is our project manager, and our network partner is Acast. And we thank you all for listening. Hope you have a great week. Bye.