Saturday Morning for Saturday 2 September 2023

8.10 An uninvited kiss - a pivotal moment in women's football?

A now infamous kiss has arguably over-shadowed Spain's magnificent victory in the 2023 Women's World Cup.

President of the Royal Spanish Football Federation and vice president of the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) Luis Rubiales has been suspended by FIFA, but is refusing to quit as president of the Spanish football federation, after kissing Spanish midfielder Jennifer Hermoso on the mouth during post-match celebrations.

Events and marketing professional and author Sally Freedman has written about working in the football industry in her recently-published book, Get Your Tits Out For The Lads. She details her time working for UEFA, the Asian Football Confederation, and for Melbourne City.  Sally has also worked with The Phoenix.

8.40 The Beths guitarist Jon Pearce on their stratospheric rise

In five years Kiwi indie-rock darlings The Beths have sky-rocketed from playing K-Road's Whammy bar, to international success. 

Recent achievements include a NPR Tiny Desk concert, a stint touring with The National, and the acquisition of a new fan, former US President Barack Obama. 

The band is also among this year's finalists in the APRA Silver Scroll Awards, for their 2022 album Expert In A Dying Field.

Lead guitarist and founding member Jon Pearce is appearing at this weekend's Going Global Summit discussing exporting Kiwi music to the world.

9.05 The weird and wonderful worlds of Patrick deWitt

Canadian author and screenwriter Patrick deWitt has a penchant for weirdos and non-heroes.

His books include Man Booker shortlisted The Sisters Brothers, a Western featuring sibling assassins, Ablutions, narrated by an alcoholic bartender, deviant fairytale Undermajordomo Minor, and French Exit, in which a mother and son flee to Paris with their cat whose body her late husband's soul has transmogrified.

His latest is The Librarianist which follows introverted bookworm Bob Comet as he makes a late-life bid to connect.

9.30 Liv McClymont and Aurora Garner-Randolph: standing up for consent

A shocking survey revealing the extent of sexual harassment at her old high school inspired filmmaker Liv McClymont to look closer at why consent education is still not compulsory in NZ schools.

Her short documentary I Stand for Consent focuses on the story of a group of students at Avonside Girls High School, including year 13 student Aurora Garner-Randolph, who convinced their school to commission the survey. 

 I Stand for Consent will be available to watch online from September 4 as part of series seven of Someday Stories.

10.05 Brian Christian: how would we know if AI becomes conscious?

The science fiction fantasy of machine consciousness is swiftly moving towards becoming a reality.

In 2021 a Google engineer was fired after publicly claiming the LaMDA chatbot he'd been testing was sentient, and last year the chief scientist of the company behind ChatGPT tweeted that some of most cutting-edge AI networks might be “slightly conscious”.

So what would it mean for humans if AI technology became conscious? And how would we even know they were?

Computer scientist Brian Christian is the author of The Alignment Problem, Algorithms to Live By (with Tom Griffiths), and The Most Human Human. He is part of the AI Policy and Governance Working Group at the Institute for Advanced Study.

 

10.40 Pet detective Anne-Marie Curry 

Pets hold a special place in our families, so it's devastating when they are stolen or go missing.

Anne-Marie Curry founded and runs Sydney-based pet detective service Arthur & Co in 2017. It's the only one of its kind in Australia. 

Business is booming, and she boasts an 80% success rate.

11:05 Triggered? Dr Jonathan Shedler on the overuse of therapy speak

The tendency to use pop-psychology "therapy-speak" phrases like "triggered" and "toxic" is unhelpful, according to Dr Jonathan Shedler, psychologist at the University of California, San Francisco

Dr Shedler says we humans have a tendency to distance ourselves from difficult aspects of emotional life, and one way we do this very well is through words.

Jonathan is author, consultant, researcher, and clinical educator best known for his article The Efficacy of Psychodynamic Psychotherapy, which won worldwide acclaim for firmly establishing psychoanalytic therapy as an evidence-based treatment.

 

 

11.40 Ned Wenlock on his graphic novel Tsunami

Paekakariki-based award-winning animator, illustrator and graphic artist Ned Wenlock's first graphic novel Tsunami  is a cautionary tale about Peter, a self-righteous12-year-old boy, and his fraught last six weeks at primary school.

It's a coming-of-age story, and an examination of teenage alienation and the unpredictable consequences of our actions. 

Everything feels overwhelming to Peter - like a tsunami is coming and he isn't sure he can stop it.

Wenlock won 2016 New Zealand International Film Festival, Show Me Shorts Best Film Award & DEGNZ Best Director Award.

 

Books featured on this show:

Get Your Tits Out for the Lads
By Sally Freedman
Published by  Fair Play Publishing
ISBN: 9781925914665

Patrick DeWitt 
The Libranianist  
Published by HarperCollins
ISBN: 9780063085121

Tsunami
By Ned Wenlock
Published by Earth's End Publishing 
ISBN: 9780473655679

 

 

Music played in this show

Song: Expert In a Dying Field
Artist: The Beths
Time played: 9:40

Song: New River Bues
Artist: Michael Hurley
Time played: 10:30