Round 48 - Our one year anniversary!

This week the girls take aim at our one-year anniversary... 

This week our podcast turns one year old! We can barely believe that we have gotten this far. Tonight we will be chatting about our journey so far and what we have learned along the way. 

But first, what were we drinking?

Amy was drinking Wiley Rooster Merlot

Available from Naked wines

Sarah was drinking Point Leo Estate Rosé

Available from Point Leo Estate

Bianca was drinking Cow Bombie Cabernet Merlot

Available from Dan Murphy's

Tonight we are not following our usual format. We started with Amy giving a brief background on how we got started and we chatted about the road that led us here one year after the beginning of our podcast.

Amy then asked Sarah and Bianca what they have loved and hated about doing the podcast. 

Sarah then asked Amy and Bianca what we have learned from podcasting and it turns out it's a lot!! 

Bianca finished the episode off by asking Amy and Sarah what advice they would give to other podcasters who have just begun their own podcast journeys. Overall, be dedicated, be organised, and if you can't be either of those team up with two co-hosts who have some un-diagnosed OCD and A-type personalities. 

Lastly, we would like to thank everyone who has helped us and supported us throughout our journey. We would not be here today without your love and support!

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Round 47 - Haunted houses

 This week the girls take aim at Haunted Houses...

Bump in the night? Mysterious orb floating around the top of the staircase? Or things appearing to move on their own? These are all the hallmarks of a haunted house. At Friday Night Wine Fight we love a good old haunted house so tonight we are going to chat about some fascinating ones. 

But first, what were we drinking?

Sarah was drinking Brown Brothers Moscato & Sav

Available from Dan Murphy's

Amy was drinking Boy meets Girl Cabernet Merlot

Available from Naked wines

Bianca was drinking Annie's Lane Cab Merlot

Available from Dan Murphy's

Sarah opens the topic this week with a very short explanation of what a haunted house is and some of the different types of ghosts or spirits you might find wandering around houses.

Sarah follows up the intro with her haunted house, the Ancient Ram Inn, a house that was built in 1145. The site was an ancient pagan burial ground for those working on the original building which was a church and then became the vicar's house. The building became a public house until it was brought in 1968 and turned into a home. However, this is not just home to the living, it is also home to several spirits, some nice, some not so nice.

 

Then Sarah talks briefly about the Black Monk House. A house that looks like any other on the outside but on the inside hides a secret. The spirit of what is said to be a monk resides at the home. The monk is said to have been hung for the rape and murder of a young girl and is now said to haunt the premises. 

Bianca took aim at both her own house and a home owned by the Perron Family. If this name sounds familiar it may be because you are familiar with the movie the Conjuring. 

Roger and Carolyn Perron, together with their five young daughters, found a perfect and quite overly spacious ten-bedroom farm-style house situated in the village of Harrisville that is found within the town of Burrillville USA.

Shortly after moving in the family began experiencing ghostly phenomena. The family experienced both daytime and nighttime paranormal activity which ranged from slightly annoying to outright terrifying. 

The Perron Family

The family sought the assistance of Ed and Lorraine Warren, a husband and wife paranormal investigation team. The 2013 movie called The Conjuring was made based on the experiences of the Warrens. 

Ed and Lorraine Warren

Amy finished the episode off by discussing a haunted house that is a little closer to home. The Monte Cristo Homestead is located in Junee, New South Wales in Australia. 

The homestead was built in 1884 and has seen its fair share of tragic events. The chain of violent events in the homestead has seemed to trigger many supernatural incidents. In fact, the homestead has become so well known for these supernatural incidents that the current owner of the homestead runs a ghost tour of the homestead at night.  

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Round 46 - Trash TV confessions

This week the girls take aim at Trash TV confessions... 

Who doesn't love trash TV? There is nothing better than pouring yourself a glass of wine and settling in to watch a TV show you know shouldn't interest you and offers nothing to the betterment of society. Don't deny it. You do it too. In this episode, the girls chat about their own trash TV confessions............

But first, what were we drinking?

Bianca was drinking Hendrick's Midsummer Solstice Gin  

Available from Dan Murphys

Sarah was drinking Brown Brother Dolcetto & Syrah

Available from Dan Murphy's

Amy was drinking Wiley Rooster Rosé

Available from Naked wines

Bianca introduced this week's topic by explaining some of the psychology behind why people love trash TV. There are typically three types of viewers:

1- Guilty pleasure watchers - these types of viewers usually don't like to be considered viewers of trash but find themselves uncontrollably drawn to it. Like watching a car crash basically. 

2- Ironic consumption viewers - these types of viewers think that the shows they watch are really bad but still enjoy them as they derive great pleasure in making fun of a terrible show.

3- Camp sensibility consumers - these audiences have a more complex reasoning behind their decision for watching. Susan Sontag (who was an American writer, filmmaker, philosopher, teacher, and political activist. She mostly wrote essays, but also published novels) described “camp sensibility” as enjoying a cultural object that is so extravagant and exaggerated that it achieves a certain kind of “failed seriousness.”

Bianca then dived into some of her favourite trash TV;

Procedural crime fiction - shows like Law and Order SVU and Criminal Minds.

Reality television - shows such as Jackass, Dudesons, Dirty Sanchez, Wild Boys, Viva la Bam and Bams unholy union.

Then lastly the little-known TV show Son of the Beach.

Amy is not usually the sort of person who likes trash TV. Millions around the world love tuning into ridiculous reality, pointless drama, and unbelievable plot lines, but not Amy. 

However, there are some exceptions to this rule.

Passions (1999-2007) 

Passions is a daytime soap made in the United States of America and is set in a fictional town called Harmony. The show follows the lives, loves, and supernatural adventures of the residents of Harmony.

Toddlers and Tiaras

Toddlers and Tiaras is a reality TV show from the good old US of A which follows the lives of child beauty pageant contestants and their families in the lead-up to pageant day. Take a guess why this show got canceled.......

Extreme couponing

Lastly, Amy discusses a little-known North American TV reality series that follows two people and their attempts to use coupons to bring their shopping bills down from hundreds of dollars to as little as possible (seriously some people spent only pennies!). 

 

Sarah chose to confess to watching Most Haunted. Most Haunted is a reality TV show about a group of British ghost hunters who travel around some of the most haunted buildings in the UK and Europe in order to gain proof that there are really spirits and ghosts out there.

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Round 45 - America, land of the weird and home of the strange

This week the girls take aim at America, land of the weird and home of the strange... 

In this episode, the girls chat about some of the things that make the United States of America distinctly different from the rest of the world. With much love to their American cousins, the girls discuss what makes the United States of America the land of the weird and the home of the strange. 

But first, what were we drinking?

Amy was drinking Wiley Rooster Merlot

Available from Naked wines

Bianca was drinking Sheep Shape Cabernet Merlot

Available from Dan Murphy's

Sarah was drinking Innocent Bystander - Syrah

Available from Dan Murphy's

Amy was lucky enough to travel to the United States of America in 1999 when she was the ripe old age of 14. She found many things to be very different from Australia such as the supersizing of fast food meals, the number of fast-food restaurants, and that the currency in note form was all the same size and colour. 

As an adult, Amy finds the following weird:

• Price tags without tax on them - As it turns out there is a reason behind this however Amy can't work out why people are put in a situation where they have to do maths on the fly.
  
  
• Tipping - Amy got on her soapbox and ranted about how it was unfair that people had to live on tips because minimum wage was not enough to live on. (Tell me I'm wrong!!)

Sarah filled the middle with some fun facts about US Presidents. For example, did you know that Abrahan Lincoln was a wrestler who only lost one match out of 300? She then discussed some little-known facts about some interesting American presidents which will fascinate you!   

Abraham Lincon 1860

William Taft 1857

Bianca had fully intended to regale everyone with a story about a man who used his shower gun to protect himself.

However, it didn't fit the mood of the episode so she decided to share some wacky laws that actually exist in the United States of America. 

Some examples are:

In Alabama ... it's illegal to drive blindfolded.

In Arkansas ... you can't honk your horn near a sandwich shop after 9 p.m. (think of the poor sleeping sandwiches!!!)

In Kentucky ... a woman cannot marry the same man four times.

In Vermont ... it's illegal for women to wear fake teeth without their husband's approval.

It's technically mandatory for women to get written permission from their husbands if they want to opt for false teeth.

There are many more but you will have to listen to the episode to find out what other crazy laws Bianca took aim at!

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