Travel Films and Listener Messages | A Soft Midweek Unwind

In Travel Films and Listener Messages, Marco and Amanda begin with a bit of gentle housekeeping and a warm reading of thoughtful notes from listeners, creating an immediate sense of connection and calm. From there, the conversation drifts toward travel films — those comforting cinematic escapes that spark wanderlust without requiring you to pack a suitcase. They reflect on the soothing rhythm of stories set in distant places and the simple pleasure of imagining new landscapes from the comfort of home.
As with every episode of this calming podcast, the tone is unhurried and softly spoken, offering a relaxing conversation designed to help you fall asleep or ease anxiety at the end of the day. The topic of travel is approached lightly, more daydream than itinerary, making it perfect for background listening while you settle into bed or quiet racing thoughts. There’s no urgency to book a flight — just gentle reflections, appreciative tangents, and the steady companionship of two familiar voices. Let images of faraway destinations and kind listener messages carry you peacefully toward rest.

​Travel Films and Listener Messages
Original airdate: May 7 2025


Welcome to the Insomnia Project. Sit back, relax, grab yourself an iced tea, a cold water, a warm beverage, and just enjoy this podcast, which is meant to help you find your way to sleep. And if that doesn't work, it's at least going to hopefully help you. Hopefully help you divert your attention.

Amanda:  What happened there?

Marco: I don't know. The record skip, I think so my F became a V, I think, is what happened there.

Amanda:  The kids wouldn't know about record skipping. Probably.

Marco: Probably not. I mean, I'm your host.

Amanda:  DJs. I guess they would.

Marco: I'm your host, Marco Timpano.

Amanda:  I'm Amanda Barker, your resident dj.

Marco: Yes. And Amanda, we have some housekeeping to do, so I'm going to do that right now.

Amanda:  You said that very Canadianly.

Marco: Did I?

Amanda:  Housekeeping.

Marco: Housekeeping to do. We do have some housekeeping to.

Amanda:  What's the house? Keeping a boat.

Marco: Okay, so we've got some. We people have messaged us and stuff, and it's taken me a while to get to them. So on April.

Amanda:  Me too.

Marco: Yes. Amanda does none of that.

Amanda:  None of it.

Marco: So EC Wise reached out to us. Remember April 2nd, it snowed. And it was snowing in April. Really crazily. Well, they wrote. Love to you and Amanda from Georgia, usa. Your podcasts are greatly appreciated. You both are amazing hosts.

Amanda:  That's nice.

Marco: That's so nice.

Amanda:  And we love Georgia.

Marco: We love Georgia.

Amanda:  Oh, my gosh. We haven't been back to Georgia in a while.

Marco: My colleague, Mark Browning, I don't know if I should mention his last name, but he's great.

Amanda:  Yeah. Why not shout out to Mark. Very talented actor and creator and a lot of things.

Marco: Anyways. And he makes me laugh quite a bit. Mark went to Georgia because that's where his partner's from just recently. And I said, savannah has the best food. You won't have any problem finding great food in Savannah.

Amanda:  Was he going to Savannah?

Marco: He was going to Savannah. He was going.

Amanda:  I mean, Atlanta has pretty great food.

Marco: Oh, Atlanta. I mean, there's nothing to snark at when you're in a cafe.

Amanda:  And never mind. Macon. We had a good time in Macon.

Marco: Decatur. Probably my favorite Decatur meal I've had in a long time was in Decatur.

Amanda:  It was such a memorable, beautiful meal that night.

Marco: It was magical.

Amanda:  Yeah, it was one of those for sure.

Marco: So, EC wise, thank you for that shout out. We really appreciate it. We love your state, and we hope you continue to enjoy our podcast.

Amanda:  I feel like there was more to the Mark Browning story. You just said Mark Browning went to Georgia and you said there's good food. That's the whole story.

Marco: He went to Georgia. I had recommended a few places in Savannah.

Amanda:  Right.

Marco: But he did not go there.

Amanda:  Okay. He didn't go to Savannah or those places.

Marco: Those places.

Amanda:  So that's fine. I mean, it. To be fair, it's been exactly 15 years since we've been there, so perhaps there are some new places to go.

Marco: Well, he was there with his partner's family.

Amanda:  Sure.

Marco: And I think they gave him a bum steer and took him somewhere else, even though he had mentioned the places.

Amanda:  Bum steer? Why? He wasn't happy with the food he had?

Marco: No, he said it was fantastic.

Amanda:  Well, then I don't think that's a bum steer.

Marco: For me, it's a bum steer. I recommend a place. I expect you to go there.

Amanda:  Wow.

Marco: Yeah.

Amanda:  Tough customer.

Marco: Tough customer.

Amanda:  We've switched microphones today. I just want to throw that in there.

Marco: We switched microphones because I can hear

Amanda:  more mouth noise from you today. So maybe it is that microphone.

Marco: I think it's this microphone. We've got a sensor.

Amanda:  Let us know how you feel about Marco's mouth noise.

Marco: It's usually Amanda's mouth noise. And I'm, like, trying to try to mitigate it, so.

Amanda:  And look at me, all quiet. Mouth.

Marco: It's true.

Amanda:  And you're Mr. We got into a little Mr. ASMR over there.

Marco: We got into a little bit of a row before.

Amanda:  A row.

Marco: Isn't that what people say?

Amanda:  I mean, it sounds like we were a row. It was a very Canadian row. Then. Very polite.

Marco: I'm like, stop breathing in the mic.

Amanda:  He's like, sometimes you breathe in the mic. And he goes, actually, he said sometimes you breathe. I was like. And he's like, well, I'm moving you so to see if you don't breathe as much. I have to say, maybe I don't because it's more roomy over here. Over there, it's more claustrophobic.

Marco: Indeed, indeed. Which I don't mind. I like a snug. You're not a snug person.

Amanda:  No. I am. What are you talking about? What's my dream? Living in a van. I think that's snug.

Marco: Okay. I don't know. I'm not too sure. But back to housekeeping.

Amanda:  Oh, yes.

Marco: There's more I have to cover here. So when our first episode for season 10 came out, Linda Porter, on her Facebook, wrote, yay. And so she was happy that we.

Amanda:  That's nice.

Marco: And I'm just gonna say thank you.

Amanda:  Where is she?

Marco: Didn't say.

Amanda:  Okay. Is she of the New Brunswick Porters? I wonder.

Marco: Perhaps.

Amanda:  I know a few.

Marco: But actually.

Amanda:  Actually,

Marco: we've got some more Linda Porter news.

Amanda:  So on February 18th, heartbreaking news.

Marco: February 18th of last year.

Amanda:  Okay.

Marco: No, no, this year. Sorry. Of this year. I wrote what's your walk home like? Because ours was full of snow. And Linda wrote, no walking or driving up here in the Laurentians. Oh, beautiful. So there we go. And they said, come on.

Amanda:  Yes, the Laurentians. Do all our listeners know where the Laurentians are?

Marco: Please inform them.

Amanda:  Well, I think they're in Quebec, are they not?

Marco: Oh, the Laurentians are in Quebec for sure.

Amanda:  Yeah. Beautiful. The beautiful mountains of Quebec. What more is there to know? Are they part of the Appalachians?

Marco: No, they're the Laurentians.

Amanda:  They're their own thing.

Marco: I think so.

Amanda:  But the Appalachians, like, end in, like, New Brunswick and start in, like, maybe Georgia. I don't know. There's a lot more of Appalachian than people realize, I think.

Marco: I think it's Appalachian is how you say it.

Amanda:  No, Really?

Marco: I think so.

Amanda:  Not where I grew up. Not those Appalachians. Appalachians.

Marco: Appalachian Trail. Yeah, I believe.

Amanda:  Oh, here's one that came up this week. I had an audition yesterday, and I said bourgeoisie, and someone said bourgeoisie. Oh.

Marco: I mean, I think that person's part of the bourgeoisie. I think it's bourgeoisie, too.

Amanda:  It was. It was a very talented and hilarious actor. Doesn't sound like Paul Bronstein. Boar or Boo, I don't know, but there's no R in it. So that was my confusion.

Marco: Fair enough. Onto our next housekeeping. Amanda. So we had someone. Remember when I read that poem that I had to censor?

Amanda:  Yeah, recently. Okay, so not the Mary Oliver poem.

Marco: Not the Mary Oliver poem.

Amanda:  Archibald Lampman was it.

Marco: It was Irving Layton. Carrie says. Carrie Duclos, I believe, says. Oh, guys. Amanda. Amanda should consider a poetry. Poetry reading podcast.

Amanda:  Oh, wow.

Marco: Yeah. So they loved your reading.

Amanda:  Oh, thank you.

Marco: And they have suggested a title, Poetry with Amanda Phenomenal. Or Add poetry to this one. So they love your poetry.

Amanda:  So we should do more of that.

Marco: We should do more.

Amanda:  And they're cold reads.

Marco: Carrie, would you want to do a poetry podcast where you just read?

Amanda:  Like, on my own?

Marco: Yeah.

Amanda:  No.

Marco: Okay. Why not?

Amanda:  I think. I don't know. You know, I loved poems. Like, when I was a kid, I would lay in bed and a poem would, like. I would jump out of bed and, like, a poem would, like, pour out of me. I think I talked about that the other day. But as I got older, as you do, in fact, I wrote a poem about how when I was like, 14 or something, I wrote a poem about how I'm going to get older and lose this creative side of me and become world weary. And that's a prophecy that came true, I think.

Marco: How old were you when you wrote that poem?

Amanda:  I was 14. And it was in TG magazine.

Marco: Oh, I thought you would say TG Max.

Amanda:  TJ Maxx.

Marco: TJ Maxx. What's TG magazine?

Amanda:  Well, it definitely doesn't exist anymore. I can't remember. I think it was stood for Teen Generation Magazine.

Marco: Oh, I see.

Amanda:  I think it was in Canada and you could submit stuff. So I did. And it was a really good poem when I think about it now. Yeah, I love dealing with rhymes and then some on rhyming and so on.

Marco: Do you remember the poem?

Amanda:  Yeah, I remember the first line was flipping to the B side of my thoughts. Again, another record analogy. And the last line to kind of tie in that was. To be fair, this was the. I was really into the Manchester scene at the time. The last two lines were, once a happy weed, now a stone rose.

Marco: Oh, because the stone rose.

Amanda:  Now I'm the stone rose. Yeah, I guess. I don't know. Anyway, I. And it got published, and then there was a picture of me that my mom took, but I didn't love the picture.

Marco: Oh, no.

Amanda:  I don't know. I didn't like my nose in the picture.

Marco: Fair enough.

Amanda:  I was 14. What do you want?

Marco: What are you gonna do?

Amanda:  Yeah, maybe I was 13.

Marco: I wonder if you could find that poem and read it next week for car. Do some deep diving.

Amanda:  I don't know where some of that stuff lives. You know, like my. The stuff that my parents held on to and all that. I don't know. We moved so many times, so, you know, and parents get. You know, they don't want to hang on to stuff, which I don't blame them.

Marco: Sure.

Amanda:  So I don't know where it lives, but, I mean, I'll have to do a deep dive to find it. If it lives, like, online, I can't imagine. I mean, it was 1990 or something, right.

Marco: Here's a hot tip for folks that want to get rid of stuff, but they're hanging on to stuff that they really should get rid of. Take a photo of it, put it on your Facebook. Keep it on your phone. Get rid of the thing. And if you really.

Amanda:  Yeah. Put it in a third location, though, don't just keep it on your phone.

Marco: Sure.

Amanda:  Because the idea, if you're someone like me, then you immediately. Oh, yeah. But what about if that happens and I lose it?

Marco: Well, I've taken photos of stuff I've gotten rid of, and I've never gone back to those photos. So that's. That's the point.

Amanda:  There's you and I looking for a magazine from 1990.

Marco: Anyway, so back to some housekeeping.

Amanda:  So then I was in English lit, and so, I don't know, I. Anyway, I studied poems. I think when you study a thing, I don't know, sometimes you accentuate your love and then sometimes you lose your love for it. I haven't lost my love for poetry, but I don't find. I sit and open a book of poems, that's for sure. So that's why I'd be like, no, I think there's just other things I'm interested in.

Marco: Okay, fair enough. Well, I think you. You'll have to just find her reading poems here or just keep asking and

Amanda:  maybe eventually consider it.

Marco: She'll consider it. 8 weeks ago Nella Wafer 2.

Amanda:  I love that name.

Marco: Says, I think you could call your fans Sleepy Heads.

Amanda:  Oh, I love that.

Marco: That is great.

Amanda:  Yeah.

Marco: Because I think we mentioned. What should we call our fans?

Amanda:  Sleepyheads.

Marco: I love that.

Amanda:  I love that.

Marco: Thank you. Just put a heart on that and say thank you.

Amanda:  Let's really incorporate that.

Marco: Yeah. Sleepy Heads rocks.

Amanda:  Oh, my gosh, I feel like Lady Gaga.

Marco: What does that mean?

Amanda:  Well, it's like, hey, all my sleepy heads. I'm not gonna do those posts. Guys. Don't worry. If I ever do an Instagram post that starts with it's your girl, please don't. Please, please check me and message me and say, you were never gonna do that. Hey, it's your girl, Amanda. I'm just here today to give you some tips. Or if I ever say, all my girlies, I don't know.

Marco: That's not you. That's not you.

Amanda:  No, it's definitely not me. All my girlies. All my Toronto girlies.

Marco: Diane Brunel was happy that our first episode aired on their birthday, which was March 5th.

Amanda:  Amazing. Happy birthday, Diane.

Marco: People just saying that they missed us.

Amanda:  This is nice.

Marco: Okay.

Amanda:  I feel like you're my. My mom goes through her Facebook and narrates it. She'll say, who, like, liked a photo? Like, oh, Marielle liked my photo. Yeah.

Marco: So for our listeners, our longtime listeners, you know that in December, I air or we air a episode every day for the holidays in December. Back then, holy tea 7.

Amanda:  I like the ones with the numbers because it's like there's six other Holy Teas out there.

Marco: Said that they really appreciated the movie recommendations, and they had never seen the Family Stone before.

Amanda:  Oh, so good.

Marco: And that's a movie that you really like.

Amanda:  Hey, we should do another movie recommendations for summer.

Marco: Oh, sure.

Amanda:  Like, great summer movies because we're in spring. Springy times, which I love the spring. Do you like the spring?

Marco: Ah, spring isn't my favorite.

Amanda:  And I made you get married in the spring. You didn't come out with that.

Marco: I didn't, no. Well, I was happy to be married. So the date doesn't. You know me and dates. I'm never one for, like, I'm not precious with things like that, I guess.

Amanda:  Right.

Marco: I'm not a precious person.

Amanda:  I just. A summer wedding felt. I don't know. I didn't want a summer wedding and I didn't want a fall wedding, so it didn't leave a whole lot. I think you would have had a fall wedding. Wouldn't you have?

Marco: Probably.

Amanda:  I think you would have had a fall wedding, but I. I have feelings about fall and my sister at a fall wedding, so.

Marco: Yeah. Anyway, some controversy here, Amanda.

Amanda:  All right. But I'm excited to do summer movies or travel movies.

Marco: Yeah.

Amanda:  Okay.

Marco: So think of some summer movies.

Amanda:  I'm thinking of, like, travel movies.

Marco: Well, travel movies and summer movies could be two different things.

Amanda:  Yeah, I guess. Okay. All right.

Marco: I just breathed.

Amanda:  Yeah, that happens sometimes to humans.

Marco: Well. So, okay. So this was on my birthday, it looks like. So back in December, Diane Burnell wrote to Marco, I am Team Becca, meaning your sister.

Amanda:  Oh, no. About what?

Marco: When it comes to slicing bagels.

Amanda:  Oh, controversy.

Marco: Diane says we're back to the bagel.

Amanda:  This is like the milk bag controversy of 2024.

Marco: Diane, I hope I'm not bringing things up. Dian married to a Jewish family, and everybody slices and freezes their Montreal bagels. Montreal being in America. With an exclamation. Just this morning, I pulled the bag of bagels out of the freezer and asked my husband, are they sliced? His answer was, of course. So.

Amanda:  So my sister knows my.

Marco: Your sister. I still can.

Amanda:  But you're an Italian, so I'm not

Marco: going to slice the bagel till the very last moment.

Amanda:  Yeah. For freshness.

Marco: To honor the bagel.

Amanda:  To honor the container.

Marco: Oh, my goodness. One of our listeners, Amanda and I don't have my phone on me. Got married in the same place where we got married. Yes. And it warmed my heart. I don't have my phone with me. I'm gonna see if I can find that.

Amanda:  Okay. Okay. Well, why don't we park? That's a lot of listener feedback for now. And people are maybe trying to have the content, because I like listener feedback, but I also want to give people a streamlined content to follow for optimal drifting.

Marco: Okay.

Amanda:  Because that's what I always need is like. Like, for example, the very popular backpack episode where I went through everything I needed in my backpack. I like. That's what I like to do, is to itemize things as I fall asleep. It makes it. I don't know. My brain needs that.

Marco: Fair enough.

Amanda:  So I think we should go back and forth. This is on the fly here. And go through a list of travel movies because summer's upon us.

Marco: Okay.

Amanda:  It's at our door. It's not here yet. It's not here yet. But I'm ambitious for summer, and so I love this idea. So maybe people have a bit more free time travel. And I love the idea of traveling and escaping. And sometimes you don't have the means, the funds, the time to do that.

Marco: Sure.

Amanda:  So popping in a travel movie for two hours on a Friday night is a beautiful escape. Or whenever.

Marco: I love it.

Amanda:  So I'm going to tell you my first one.

Marco: Okay.

Amanda:  So this was my favorite movie when I was in university. Not too much long after I wrote that poem. And it opened up a whole new idea of the world for me. Okay, so the movie was called Stealing Beauty.

Marco: Okay.

Amanda:  I can't think of the director's name, but he's Bertolucci. Yeah. So it's set in Italy, and it's a bit of a weird. I don't know. I don't want to say it's weird, but it takes some turns that you're like, I'm not sure what's happening here, but ultimately it's Liv, a very young Liv Tyler. I think it came out in, like, 94. 5 or something like that. But it's a young Liv Tyler who's going back to a sort of artist commune. Not a commune, but like an artist place in Tuscany. That her mom lived in when she was younger and all her friends that, you know, meet at this big villa.

Marco: Okay.

Amanda:  Jeremy Irons is one of those people. Jeremy Irons, Rachel Weitz.

Marco: Okay.

Amanda:  Who became who? It was one of her first roles, so she was not particularly famous. Are two of the actors in it anyway.

Marco: Okay.

Amanda:  Did I say the name right?

Marco: You said Vice. Rachel Weisz.

Amanda:  Irons. You looked at me and you went,

Marco: jeremy seems kind of old to be in that film with a young Liv Tyler.

Amanda:  Well, he isn't young in the movie.

Marco: Okay. So that's fine. All right.

Amanda:  Yeah. You're like, he's not the love interest.

Marco: I know, but you're like Rachel Weisz. That was her first film. Liv Tyler, she's living on the edge.

Amanda:  Well, it's, it's a group, I think Liv Tyler plays the daughter maybe of the woman. They're all, you know, they're all age, aging people and she's lost her mom, so she's trying to reconnect with. With her mom's past.

Marco: I see.

Amanda:  So anyway, she goes to this villa in, you know, a rural, sun drenched place in Tuscany. It's beautiful. It's just olive groves and her just sort of wandering around and enjoying the sun and having pizza in town and meeting a local boy and. And it's. There's a simplicity to that movie. And I was that age and all I wanted to do was just go a harvest table in Italy and have beautiful meals and wine with fun and interesting people at that harvest table. It's probably all I ever really want out of life. In fact.

Marco: Sounds lovely.

Amanda:  That's the dream for me always. And in fact, talking about weddings, that's all I wanted for my wedding was just a harvest table full of wonderful people and wonderful food and a good time. So I love that movie. I haven't seen it in years.

Marco: I have never seen it.

Amanda:  There's a few parts where you're like, I don't know what's happening, but. But it's all fun and joyful and playful and explorative and it's a beautiful movie. So stealing Beauty.

Marco: That's Amanda's pick or recommendation. I will say Planes, Trains and Automobiles.

Amanda:  Very different type of travel movie.

Marco: Steve Martin, John Candy. So many great people have little cameos in it.

Amanda:  What's the escape? Chicago in the winter.

Marco: Well, they're trying to get to Chicago for Thanksgiving.

Amanda:  Okay, and where are they?

Marco: They are, I want to say Omaha or somewhere. Not Chicago. They're trying to get to Chicago. All the planes. It's very Funny.

Amanda:  I'm thinking more like escaping movies.

Marco: Very poignant. I like that movie. I don't know why. It can't be one of the movies on my list.

Amanda:  It absolutely can.

Marco: All right. How about Only you?

Amanda:  That's where another. So, yeah.

Marco: Marissa, No.

Amanda:  I didn't want to take you away from Plane Strange Automobiles. I was just. You were taking a new direction I didn't see coming.

Marco: Well, you said travel movies. Those are.

Amanda:  It is a travel movie. It's true.

Marco: So then there's that movie with Marisa Tomei and.

Amanda:  So let's talk about Only you.

Marco: Yeah, hang on. I'm trying to think of the other actor, Iron man there.

Amanda:  Yeah, Iron Man.

Marco: What's his name?

Amanda:  Robert Downey. Do you want me to talk about Only you? I think I know that movie better than you. Probably only you. I had a beautiful, wonderful friend who was my roommate in third year, and I would rent Stealing Beauty all the time. She would rent Only you. She'd love that movie.

Marco: I would rent Planes, Trains and Automobiles.

Amanda:  You weren't. You didn't live at nine Balser?

Marco: I didn't.

Amanda:  Sackville, New Brunswick. So Marcus tried it. Get my water right now. And it's like you're playing operation.

Marco: Trying to get it through the.

Amanda:  He's trying to get it through all the wires without jostling anything so he doesn't have to go back on the podcast. He did it. He's enjoying the water. Only you is Marisa Tomei again. This was a movie back in the 90s, and Robert Downey Jr. Was Judy Greer in it. I'm trying to think. No, Bonnie. Bonnie Hunt.

Marco: Bonnie Hunt, Yeah. The rich man's Judy Greer. I didn't want to say the poor man's because I feel like that's.

Amanda:  No.

Marco: A knock on Bonnie Hunter. She's very funny and talented.

Amanda:  A comedic actress who played a lot of sidekicks in the 90s. They both did, anyhow. And a few other people. But it's. And we actually know someone who worked on that movie.

Marco: We do.

Amanda:  Yeah. Dina Morone was a translator. Oh, that's amazing. Yeah. Anyhow, it takes place in Rome, so it's like a love letter to Rome. And she. The concept is, when she's very young, she goes to a fair, and the fortune teller gives her a name of a guy that is going to be her true love. So she spends her life looking for this guy. And so Robert Downey Jr. Shows up, and he's the guy with that name. And I'll just leave that.

Marco: There you go.

Amanda:  Yeah. It's a great. It's a really fun and lovely and sweet movie and lots of great shots of wandering around Rome and having a fabulous time. So that's a really, really great one. I know Roman Holiday is supposed to be a great movie. I've never seen it, have you?

Marco: I have, I have. And Gregory Peck. What's her name? The thin one.

Amanda:  Audrey Hepburn, also known as. What's her name? The thin one. She was then. Yes, I'll give you that.

Marco: And they're on a Vespa, riding around Rome and stuff.

Amanda:  I have another Audrey Hepburn movie that would. Would be a travel movie from that era. And I'll give you this funny face.

Marco: Oh, that's a travel one for me.

Amanda:  It is. It's a tribute to Paris. It's a beautiful tribute to Paris. It's Fred Astaire and Audrey Hepburn, which. There was an age gap there. I'm just gonna throw that out there.

Marco: Okay.

Amanda:  But it's this lovely fun time in the 60s when beatniks.

Marco: Beatniks.

Amanda:  Do you know what a beatnik is?

Marco: I know what a beatnik is, but

Amanda:  how old is this film from the 60s? I mean, Fred Astaire was in it. As a lead. Okay. Yeah. As a love interest lead. All right, so it's from, like, the early. Probably. Actually, it might be the 50s.

Marco: Is it a dancey film?

Amanda:  For sure. Okay. I'm gonna say it's the 50s, not the 60s. Sorry.

Marco: Speaking of Omaha. He's from Omaha.

Amanda:  Is he really?

Marco: Yeah.

Amanda:  Predister.

Marco: Yeah.

Amanda:  And she was from.

Marco: Do you know she was from Belgium or something.

Amanda:  The Netherlands.

Marco: Yeah, the Netherlands.

Amanda:  That's why she had that accent, because it was like a British British. She had learned sort of a British English.

Marco: She's remarkable. If you look at her life. She's pretty. It was pretty remarkable.

Amanda:  Absolutely. She was wonderful. Humanitarian. So this is a young Audrey Hepburn and an aging Fred Astaire. But anyway, it's all about fashion in the 1950s. I'm sorry I said 60s, because now I realize I've got to be wrong on that. So I'm correcting myself here. But fashion in the 1950s, it started with, like, the trends of. I mean, I just love the fashion from that era. Those tight little waists and big, beautiful skirts and collared shirts. And there's this fun. They're talking about, like, it was like, Parisian Vogue or whatever off the top. And they have this musical number, and it's like, think pink. And, like, they decide that the color that year is pink. And she doesn't want Anything to do with it. She's a bookworm at a bookshop and she's this beatnik. And anyways, they meet up in Paris and he, you know, wants to make her into a model, and she wants to show him, like, her life in cafes in Paris where she dances around and smokey bars and stuff. And of course, it's, you know, a fun love story and they dance and it's beautiful. But anyway, it's a really fun. There's a whimsy in that movie, and I loved that she wore, like, these black turtlenecks and these black capri pants and, like, ballet flats. Like, if I could live in clothes that look like that and look like her in them with those, like, blunt bangs and cute ponytails, I'd be happy the rest of my life. So, yeah, it's just the fashion and the whimsy and the funness of 1950s Paris.

Marco: Cool.

Amanda:  So that's a fun escape movie. What else you got?

Marco: I got. I like this film more than I thought I would. Okay, so I'll just. I'll just start with that. Because I hadn't read the book, and I think you wanted to see the film, and I feel like we saw it at the movie theater, but I could be wrong. 2010s Eat, Pray, and Then Love.

Amanda:  And you liked the movie?

Marco: I did like the movie. I liked the movie. I should. I should say I liked it more than I thought I was going to like it.

Amanda:  Fair enough. Yeah.

Marco: I thought Julia Roberts was great in it.

Amanda:  She was. What did you like about the movie?

Marco: Probably Julia Roberts. I thought she was great in it.

Amanda:  She's great.

Marco: I thought that's a. That's a hard film to make the. The protagonist likable, because I don't find the protagonist likable in things that I've read from the book.

Amanda:  Did you read the book?

Marco: I didn't read the book.

Amanda:  I read the book.

Marco: You read me some passages from the book, and I was like, I'm not into this at all.

Amanda:  I loved the book. I mean, you know, I'm a woman of a certain age, and I think that was our. I'm the demo, let's be honest.

Marco: Gilbert something.

Amanda:  Gilbert Elizabeth, not something. Gilbert. Elizabeth Gilbert.

Marco: It was coming to me. I read her other book that I really liked.

Amanda:  Big Magic.

Marco: Big Magic is great.

Amanda:  Phenomenal. A must read for any artist. Big Magic.

Marco: That's a good summer read. I'll throw that out there.

Amanda:  Yeah. And it's a beautiful. Listen, Big Magic is great. If you like audiobooks, like I do.

Marco: It is. It is a good listen. Yeah. So.

Amanda:  But Eat, Pray, Love is beautiful. For those who haven't seen it or haven't seen it in a while, because you've got India, Italy, and Indonesia. Not in that order. I think it's actually Italy, India, Indonesia is my memory of it.

Marco: Yeah, I think you're right.

Amanda:  Or Indonesia. Yeah, I think that's it. And she's just, you know, she spends this year traveling after her life kind of falls apart. And it's an interesting and fun journey. I would have thought it would be a hard book to make into a movie because it's a very personal, introspective, just sort of journey. But from that book came a couple of really wonderful things and concepts. And it's certainly, I think, the pizza industry in Naples. You know, like, she basically was saying, I'm having a heavenly experience eating this pizza in Naples and how amazing it is.

Marco: True enough. There you go.

Amanda:  That's a great reco. I think that's a great reco.

Marco: There you go. All right, Amanda, it's your turn.

Amanda:  I'm going to go with the beach.

Marco: The beach. Okay.

Amanda:  So a fun escape. I highly recommend the book. There was a certain time in my life once I did my Stealing Beauty Summer and went to Europe and did that. I then went to Asia, and after I was done, a teaching contract, I backpacked in Thailand and some other places. And when I was in Thailand, you could look at any given beach, and everybody on that beach was reading the book. The beach, the movie hadn't come out yet, but it was. I mean, you could find a copy of it anywhere. It was sort of left in every cafe. And back then, I don't know if this is still the case because I haven't been back, but it was. And you've been to Thailand more recently, so you can tell me. But I mean, this was the late 90s, so every bar had, like. It would show, like, pirated English movies. And you just go to this bar, you know, on these beaches, like, you'd spend the day at the beach. And then at night, if you wanted to go have a drink, one of the things you would do is just go see. And they'd be like, tonight we're showing these two movies. Right. And they were always like, you know, pirate copies.

Marco: Yeah. No, that wasn't my experience.

Amanda:  Yeah. I mean, I think that was just a thing at that time, but. And then I saw the movie, and I really love the movie, and I will say this, I love the soundtrack from that movie. It's One of my most often listened to soundtracks. What's interesting about the book versus the movie is the antagonist in the book is American, and she kind of is that quintessential American traveler archetype.

Marco: Okay.

Amanda:  Bossy. And I can say this as an American, but loud and bossy and all these things because they had Leonardo DiCaprio, who was like the hottest star on the planet at that point, as the lead. They couldn't make. They needed something to juxtapose. They didn't make him British, which the lead is in the book.

Marco: I see.

Amanda:  So they made him sort of against this British person played deftly by Tilda Swinton. And she is very quintessentially British, I would say, like, in that she's.

Marco: She's a great actor.

Amanda:  She's amazing in that movie, and she is a great actor. And so she's sort of like dismissive at times, perhaps condescending without him understanding it. Passive. Passive aggressive. More so. Very, very different and different endings to the movie and the ultimately about travelers wanting to make this beautiful, perfect escape.

Marco: Well, there you go.

Amanda:  And that's a really good one. Are we at our time? I feel like I have more movies I want to.

Marco: We're past our time, actually. And I'm surprised you didn't mention the Motorcycle Diaries.

Amanda:  Oh, my God, I love that movie.

Marco: I'm surprised you didn't mention the Secret Life of Walter Mitty.

Amanda:  I don't know that one.

Marco: I don't know it either, but that's. I'm surprised you didn't mention it.

Amanda:  Can we just talk about the Motorcycle Diaries real quick before we leave?

Marco: It won't be real quick with you, though, because that's one of your favorite films.

Amanda:  I have to say. I haven't seen it in a while.

Marco: Okay.

Amanda:  The Motorcycle Diaries 2004. Okay. In 2004. Oh, and then Casa de los Babies isn't a wonderful movie. Sure, I have too many. Maybe we should do another podcast.

Marco: Maybe we will.

Amanda:  Okay, well, then we'll leave those for next time.

Marco: All right, Let us know if you've. If any of these recommendations are things on your list that you've watched and what you think of them, and then eight weeks or more later, I'll get to them. But thank you so much to all our listeners who reach out and send us messages. We do read them, and we're very grateful and we hope that this podcast has helped you listen and sleep.