August 24 – People, Places and Things 🎭 Spent 📺 Pretty Ugly 📖 Yoko Ono 🎨 UKG 🎶 And Snoop
Lots of looking and listening, not much reading or watching.
I’ve just realised I’ve been writing this newsletter for over a year. One year and one month. (No idea how I missed this last month) Which is something isn’t it!?
I started this as a way to be a bit more mindful, because I have a terrible memory, and to use as a journal I can fish ideas from. It’s helped with all those things. But I’ve also found that it’s impossible to record everything, and it’s pretty time consuming. I’m feeling that back to school energy, so starting from September I’m going to change up the format –
I’ll still share a monthly list, but but I’ll pick one stand out thing I’ve watched, read, looked at and listened to and attempt a ‘proper review’ or at least a more detailed comment.
So you’ll get a list of inspo and then hopefully 4 -5 more thoughtfully written pieces.
OK, let’s gooooo – what have you been watching/reading/looking at/listening to? »
WATCHING
IRL LIVE Theatre!!! People Places and Things by Duncan Macmillan at Trafalgar Theatre – with Denise Gough. It's a play about addiction and recovery. Incredible set design and a very powerful performance from Gough. ‘I’m a scream looking for a mouth’ is a line that stood out for me. Very sad, but also funny. I liked the lil twist at the end that (spoiler) makes you question how much of what the protagonist shared was true.
A Dream For the Future – I loved this short so much - So nostalgic, and beautifully shot. If you don’t cry a little bit are you ok?! Directed by Peter Franklyn Banks found via It’s Nice That
After watching that I watched Waking Up In Birmingham (Directed by Peter Franklyn Banks) – A great title. A very emotional and difficult subject, an injured soldier, James Simpson, opens up about his life-changing injuries. Such a touching interview, and again beautifully shot. Lots of crying (from me).
My Tiger Family on BBC is great, (I love a tiger – I’m a big, big cat person). Valmik Thapar is the most wonderful passionate soul.
Crazy Stupid Love - Somehow for the first time!? Gosling ❤️ Carell
Crime – Series on ITV. Which isn’t usually my bag, but Irvine Walsh is my bag for life (does that work?). I started with series one, coz why not, and so far it’s dark af as expected, but meh!? Not the best acting, not feeling particularly Irvine Walshy…
Spent – I heard comedian Michelle de Swarte talking on the radio about her new show. It’s bloody GREAT. Great writing. Great characters. Michelle plays a version of herself (an ex-model who’s spent all her cash) she’s awful and disastrous but yet the most likeable person. Hilarious lines, and outrageuous scenarios, with moments of sadness and deep emotion – the scenes with her sort of estranged Dad leave you choked after cackling. No spoilers, give it a watch. I binged all of it in one and I want more. Michelle is also in The Baby – a black comedy about motherhood, which is on my watch list. (Got some other great peeps in the cast, notably, Isy Suttie – Peep Show)
Peacock (from Steve Stamp People Just Do Nothing) – totally missed this, but will give anything the PJDN crew do a watch. It’s fun, but Mustafa (Grindha) is playing the same character again – David Brent style man child. An easy watch, and a fun premise – a PT amid a crisis, but not much else to say. Lol/Meh! (probs won’t watch it all)
Hit Man – Watched coz Little White Lies gave it a 5/5 (I find they can be quite pretencious, but this looked fun) I’d say it’s a 3 at best. It’s fun, and Glen Powell is a great lead, playing a nerdy sad sack, that morphs into various guises – but I hated that the female lead (Adria Arjona) was basically a walking sex doll. In every scene she’s in, she appears to be gagging for it, and this doesn’t make sense with her backstory of being in an abusive relationship, or you know just being a fully-rounded human. It’s not a deep film, but c’maaaan
READING
Pretty Ugly by Kirsty Gunn – I bought this book based on the cover feeling velvety and having a pleasing pattern of flesh-eating plants – and the blurb of horse. Great short stories, all very visual. The very first one ‘Blood Knowledge’ stuck with me.
The Dictionary Story by Sam Winston and Oliver Jeffers – I love Oliver Jeffers's illustrations, and I love the idea from Sam Winston – The Dictionary is sad that all the other books have stories and she doesn’t. So she decides to bring her words to life. An imaginative and fun children’s book, that’s also an art book for grownups. My favourite thing about it is the new definitions for some of the words in the dictionary, like ‘and’ A sociable word that likes to introduce other words to each other. The idea of what might happen if a dictionary started telling its own stories is something Winston explored using digital typesetting since at least 2001, when the first of his works *A* Dictionary Story was published. Check out the projects here
Mixtaping my Metaphors – A great read on metaophors, how to build them and what makes a good one. Japanese beauty, Shakespearian poetry, and strategic philosophy. The final track is about indigenous wisdom. From Phil Adams, AKA Lowfalutin who writes about brand strategy and creativity.
Every day, veteran screenwriter and film studies professor Scott Myers publishes at least one new resource for writers.
The internet’s favourite animal gets a disturbing AI makeover for The Washington Post. ‘…a cat appearing to eat the contents of its dirty diaper has over 22 million views on YouTube Shorts’. WHAT ARE WE DOING
Clown School is Terrifying, But It Made Me a Better Writer – Alison Espach on Finding Her Inner Clown. Very quick read but interesting. Clown school sounds fucking vile.
LOOKING
Yoko Ono at Tate Modern – I wasn’t expecting to love this as much as I did—lots of interactive art (always great), thought-provoking pieces, and well-curated. I loved this the most 👇 (and also watching my pal and her son wriggle and giggle in a huge black sack ‘bag piece’)
Angela Kirkwood’s animations are like old-school snoopy cartoons with a nightmarish edge. They’re weird and wonderful and feel very analogue. Love em. Particularly like the intro for Off The Air, Drugs >
Comic observations from Paul Davis – I’m planning on heading to the Art Carboot Fair in Kings Cross on 7th August, which will have LOTS OF ART, including art from Paul Davis (just to be clear)
Beautiful paintings of light from Sergiu Ciochină
Noah Verrier’s oil paintings of modern brands and junk food.
The Restaurant and Bar design Awards – pick your next dins out here’s the list of the most beautiful places in the UK. My top spot is Los Michos for the Mexican/Japanese fusion and views
View from a Bridge – such a great series. (What section does this go in?) This guy…
Lorna Rose Treen is a funny gyal. She does these off kilter mock interviews and they crack me up.
Disney Animation process – a LOT of work goes into a 90-minute animated film. A lovely section on Disney’s website takes you through the process.
Mevlana Lipp paints on velvet, the florals seem to float or glow. Remind me of stained glass windows – there is something religious about them. Grand, often symmetrical. Art Deco esq. Lovely.
LISTENING
Kali Uchis
New album from Fontaines D.C – the gasp in Starburster
The UK Garage story – 8 parter from BBC 6 Music with Jamz Supernova and Spoony. Loads of interviews and snippets from the beginnings of UKG through to its metamorphosis into grime. SO much fun. Took me back to being 18 in Moon Lounge Brum.
Put onto Massien from Becca OGT newsletter – so nice to listen to music I would never have heard. This track is dreamy and lifts you into a hazy heaven. Jaw unclenched.
For dancing 💃 ezracollective (I’m so excited for their new albummm) bandleader Femi Koleoso shares a mix inspired by Fela Kuti. And then found via Mix Mag, this Ron Hardy mix of Love and Happiness which I love (chiacgo house mix)
Fela Kuti - be rude not to
Perfect park music 🌞 >
Oasis obvs because of course. And of course I couldn't get a ticket 🤡 and the Blur
–
OTHER STUFF
The Writing on the Stall – A one-woman bathroom Grafitti Musical by Caitlin Cook. (SPOILERS) I booked this AGES ago, and love the premise. It was a very mixed bag. I’m still a big fan of the concept, who doesn’t love graffiti in toilets? The show begins by asking if it’s art (no mention of Marcell Duchamp) Cook then takes us through her scrapbook of Latrinalia in the form of songs, which is great – although they are all the same, she could have had fun switching genre or melody. And then she touches on art again, but where things get odd, is when she reveals that she killed a man when she was 17 in a car accident. The ‘build’ to this is tonally off, her acting chops aren’t up to balancing the laughs with the cries. So I found myself enjoying toilet humour and then sobbing, a bit confused. Big respect for her being so vulnerable, but I think she tried to pack too much into the show – I would have liked to spend more time laughing a what people scrawl on toilet doors.
The Scale of Life – A dizzying amount of stats that put things into perspective. You can see the number of births, beers brewed, ciggies smoked, shoes bought… and my fave; the distance you’ve travelled through space.
I’m having a clothing crisis. That’s very dramatic, but what I mean is I have a wardrobe full of clothes that either don’t fit or I’ve had for 15 years and am bored of. So, I watched this – The Three Word Method by Allison Bornstein and now I have my words and feel less sad about getting dressed.
Louise Orwin – Recently discovered her. I want to see her show Fame Hungry about TikTok and the attention economy. Which has got rave reviews at the Fringe.
AD STUFF
I love Lick - I love their branding and TOV, and I love this collab with MAC.
Grand Prix-winning Strategies 2024 from Contagious (Free PDF)
Is there any pie that doesn’t have a Snoop Dog finger in it? No. Enter Gin and Juice (it was only a matter of time) I will miss Olympic Snoop
Tom Daly X Malibu X Royal Life Saving Society = Don’t Drink and Dive. This is so much more interesting than anything I can remember Malibu doing before, and it looks cool – the merch is covetable. Probs because it’s not about Malibu.
Great spot (soz) from Bodyform by AMV – Directed by Lucy Forbes. Opening up a conversation and education around menstrual health. Lots of nice film techniques and I love the classical collage bits.