AUGUST

WATCHING

  • The Rehearsal – This is so weird, I love it. The concept: What if you could rehearse moments in your life? Nathan Fielder takes this to another level by hiring actors to play the parts of people in his life/in other’s lives who he ‘coaches’ to ensure they do and say everything perfectly. It’s mind-boggling and gets very silly as it becomes more and more meta. It took a while for my brain to catch up (I’ve never watched Nathan Fielder before). Still not sure if the people in the show are ‘real’ or actors. I want them to be actors or it’s maybe a bit… cruel?

  • Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis – I thought this was really well done. My mom is a huge Elvis fan so I wasn’t expecting to be surprised by anything, but I didn’t know quite how shady ‘The Colonel’ was. It’s really a film about him. As biopics go (I find they’re usually a bit meh/drawn out) this is one of the better ones. Has nothing on Walk The Line though.

  • ROM IMMORTAL – The Museum commissioned Toronto-based filmmaker Mark Zibert, in collaboration with Broken Heart Love Affair’s Carlos Moreno and Denise Rosetto to create this short film. IT IS BEAUTIFUL AND EMOTIONAL and how did they shoot this!?

  • Marriage – Sean Bean is so good. He (and the whole show) is toe curling-ly awkward. Nicola Walker is also excellent. The show is tense, and dull at the same time. Everyone will recognise these moments, whether married or not. The intro/outro music – Partita for 8 Singers: No. 1. Allemande – is bloody great/mad, encapsulating all the unsaid’s and the mood in a surprising way. To the side - Ahhhhhhh. Then went on a Sean Bean flex and watched Accused

  • Fire of Love – A cinema watch

READING

  • How To Be Influenced, by Ian Leslie – a short interesting read on how much we are influenced by others, and how we can be in more control of that; '“we live in societies where influence is everywhere, pressing upon us from all sides. We can instantly find out what strangers think, or at least what they say they’re thinking, on any given topic. We can consult with our friends every second of the day. It’s easier to outsource your opinions than ever… “Every time we look at a screen, which is almost every minute of the day, we are enjoined to think something, believe something, buy something, do something.” This made me think about why I started this ‘journal’ – a place to record all my influences and try and be less passive.

  • HOW ARTISTS GET PAID FROM STREAMING By Elio Quinton for The Pudding. Love The Pudding

  • The new popularity contest - The Sociology of Business substack. As always an interesting read, this time on performance metrics, in business, and in culture. ‘This popularity contest is ran by algorithms. We are not competing with other people for popularity, but with algorithmic preferences… On social media and on streaming services, content is more viewed if it is popular; it is not popular because it has been viewed a lot.

  • Still working my way through The Most Fun We Ever Had. I’m nearly there…

  • A short from Jonny Sun’s book ‘Goodbye, again’ – ‘Your Last Fifteen Minutes…’ Excellently terrifyingly emotional.

LOOKING

  • Obliteration rooms at the Tate - Yusama. Cool idea… I went with my baby, and realise it’s a great activity for kids, but I would love to see this without SO MANY people, kids in particular (I know) it was a bit much.

  • https://archivve.visualizevalue.com/ – nice simple visualisations of advice and philosophies. I think found via Web curios, but I’m not sure and I don’t know who made these…

  • agathem.illustration

LISTENING

  • Gorillaz Cracker Island with Thundercat is a banger

  • Little Dragon - 'Frisco' and new EP yaaaaaas. Also this track with Moses Sumney - 'The Other Lover' - lovely trumpets(?)

  • I saw TANK AND THE BANGAS at Koko, and they were PHENOMENAL. Tank is the most amazing front woman, and to top it all off they all wore the most incredible custom capes with their portraits on. LOVE LOVE LOVE. I discovered TATB on NPR’s Tiny Desk, and I did love Jelly’s complimentary vocals… wah

OTHER STUFF