APRIL*

*I had a baby! So this month was mainly binging Top Boy in between night feeds and listening to lots of music - old and new. Finding the amount of great new music particularly difficult to keep up with, so I’ve started listening to a lot more mixes and playlists.

WATCHING

  • The Bubble. A ‘covid’ movie by Judd Apatow – nah.

  • Love Life - Netflix, Anna Kendrick. Easy watching

  • Top Boy - from the start. Love Little Sims so much, what a talent. Kano’s acting gets soooo much better. Loved the journey/transformation of Sully and Dushane.

  • Derry Girls S3 - went a bit pantomime-y!?

  • The Thief his Wife and the Canoe – Eddie Marsan is excellent

  • Perfume – had forgotten the ending (not the orgy bit, the very very end bit)

  • Miles Davis - Birth of the Cool

  • Encanto

READING

LOOKING

Looks like I’ve just been looking at my baby…I’ve listened to lots of music though

LISTENING

OTHER STUFF

MARCH

WATCHING

  • Louis Theroux – Porn’s Me Too

  • The Humans – The opening sequence nearly put me off… But I liked it. Based on writer-director Stephen Karam's own Tony Award-winning play, it still very much felt like a play. Nice to see Amy Schumer play a very different role.

  • Comedy awards – Sex Education cleaned up… and my fave lady Katherine Ryan.

  • Pieces of Her – Tony Collette.

  • Gosford Park

  • Killing Eve series 4 … Do the writers have any idea who the 12 are? Do I care? ugh… shame

  • Dopesick (Disney+) This was excellent. Great performances from everyone, Michael Keaton especially. So sad and really shows you the vast web of opioid addiction, making the Sackler’s evil horribly emotive.

  • Worth – on a Michael Keaton flex

  • Turning Red (Pixar) cute

  • Red Rocket, Sean Baker’s new film - Reallllllly liked it. Mikey (Simon Rex), the washed-up porn star protagonist, is great – a terrible person that you can’t help liking. All-round great characters…We all know a Mikey (not in the Porno way but in the charming, walking disaster way). Dragged a bit at points (I would have gone with the naked run as the end scene but I didn’t make it did I)

  • Nightmare Alley

  • The Worst Person in the World LOVED. I cried I laughed, I pondered… and I’m still thinking about it. Great performances, and cinematography. Everything felt very real; the dialogue, the way it was captured – and there were some nice surreal moments to break things up a bit, like the freezing of time and the mushroom trip. I liked how the film was told in chapters, a story unfolding about the choices we’re faced with, living with decisions made, and how our choices are sometimes made for us.

  • Mollys Game. A very unnecessarily long game.

READING

LOOKING

LISTENING

  • https://allhoursradio.com/?play

  • Wallice

  • Foo Fighters - such sad news of Taylor Hawkins death. What a legend

  • Smashing Pumpkins

  • Nirvana

  • Pascal, Ronnie Size…Drummond & Jungle for the sunshiiiiine

OTHER STUFF

  • These ads for SAXX underwear are fun.

  • Vice article on the excellent Gender Pay Gap Bot that took down disingenuous brands and companies tweeting about IWD, but lacked the data to back up their ‘celebration of women’. Great call out and hopefully will make companies put their money where their mouth is.

  • https://thedirectorscommentary.tumblr.com/

  • https://www.heardle.app/ - musical wordle – https://framed.wtf/ Film wordle (sort of)

  • https://brainstream.nfb.ca/ – This is odd, but I really liked it – Written and directed by Caroline Robert ‘Brainstream is an interactive animated film that explores, with sensitivity and humour, the mysteries of brain activity and the unpredictable trajectory of our thoughts’. You’re inside the head of D., a young girl who’s lives-streaming her brain activity during a new kind of treatment session. Online, along with other participants, you massage her brain, experiencing the free flow of her thoughts, emotions, and obsessions.

FEBRUARY

WATCHING

  • But I’m a Cheerleader – What a cast. Super stylised queer coming of age.

  • The Tinder Swindler

  • The Curse – Not sure I’ll bother with this… I wanted to like it. It looks good, gorgeous 80’s styling, but I just…don’t care

  • Chloe – (BBC) Incredible acting from Erin Doherty.

  • Finding Anna

  • Plastic Must Die | SiGNALS – YouTube Originals invited filmmakers from around the world to create the experimental series #SiGNALS based on stories of everyday objects, which educate you on how to be more sustainable for sake of Mother Earth

  • The Souvenir – Took me a while to get into it. Found it a bit pretentious. Tom Burke is great. Very beautiful cinematography, gorgeous soft colours, and framing. If it didn’t look this good I don’t think I would have watched all of it.

  • Cup Head - I loved this game and the 50s style, the animated series is great 👌

  • Blocks – short that is soon to become a series. An existential comedy about the mother of two young children who begins to spontaneously vomit toy blocks. By Bridget Moloney

  • Jeen-yhus - Kanye doc Netflix

  • Cat Burglar - interactive cartoon fun from Charlie Brooker

READING

  • Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart – Brilliant. Sad. Brutal. I kept thinking about Agnes, Shuggie, and Leak when I was going about my day… I thought it would make me sob, which is why I put off reading it, not wanting to be too depressed in January, but although it’s sad it’s also very matter of fact/funny at times – unlike ‘A Little Life’ (which did make me sob), it doesn’t linger on despairing details and feelings – although they are obviously there. I read it a couple of weeks, choosing it over films, music, and all the other things. Very much looking forward to reading his next book, Young Mungo.

  • Why Is This Interesting (Substack) – on purpose in advertising: Not leading with purpose doesn’t mean a brand doesn’t have any, as nicely articulated by Mark Ritson: Choosing not to position on purpose does not mean your organisation is evil. Pret a Manger has quietly taken unsold sandwiches off its shelves and distributed them to shelters and food banks. Pret doesn’t talk much about this at all. It continues to position on fresh, handmade food instead.

  • The New Me by Halle Butler – Dark lols. Started reading at the same time as I watched the first episode of ‘Chloe’ and found parallels. Very easy read – smashed half of it in one go.

  • How Oatly’s Spirit of 'Jantelagen' Conquered the World – made me want to work for Oatly.

  • The Hidden Mothers of Family Photos – The New Yorker. Such an interesting article, with darkly bizarre/funny photography from the Victorian era: ‘The long exposures required by old-school cameras meant that young children needed to be kept still for considerable periods of time. Studio photographers enlisted mothers as literal supports, camouflaging them in sheets and drapes so that they could prop up their offspring inconspicuously’. A great read on how mothers are often left out of family pictures. It reminded me of an old ad campaign that showed family pictures with the mom cropped out… can’t remember what it was for now though.

LOOKING

  • Erika Lee Sears – Self-taught oil painter. Love her paintings and the simple scenes/things that she chooses as her subjects. Especially her ‘Self-care’ paintings. Yum.

  • Pass The Ball – Nice ‘Pass it On’ animation. 40 animators.

  • This is a lovely idea – https://museumofpreciousthings.com/ – people submit images of their precious possessions along with a story. Definitely needs more stuff (at the moment it’s mostly stones). Could be a good place to prompt a bit of fiction writing too.

LISTENING

  • ‘22 for ’22: the musicians who are going to smash it in the months ahead’ from The Face – the ones I liked: Grouptherapy. – Soft rap over melodic riffs. Hypnotic. Songs: Relax, Disco Paints, and Raise It Up (I like the telephone trill in this one) / Skiifall ‘skeletal rap that’s peppered with dub, jazz, reggae and dancehall’ (The Face) I don’t know how I would describe it so I will agree with this. Songs: Break of Dawn, Ting Tun Up / Yard Act – heard a lot of them on Radio 6. Northern, funny and biting. A bit indie for my usual taste, but like ‘em. Song: Pay day / Nia Archives – Drummond, jungle, breaks, Neo Soul (all the good stuff). Lots of samples. Fun skanking music! Songs: 18 and Over, Sober Feels (LOVE) Probs my fave artist from this list… / DVR (& Kenny Beats) Song: Lowlife, Pixies sample?

OTHER STUFF

  • One Woman Show (written and performed) by Liz Kingsman - at Soho Theatre. This was so strange and great, a parody of the ‘hot mess’ female character that has been popularised by Flea Bag. It’s smart and also silly, and surreal - a great combination.

  • Tim Key at The Bill Murray – I love him, and I love the Bill Murray. A stand-out line from one of his poems ‘her face was a piss-take, her solitary chin lit up by her phone’ I haven’t bought the book… I feel like you need to hear/see him. His delivery is great.

  • https://chillsubs.com/ – Find the right home for your writing

  • Don’t Miss Out (ad for Crypto with Larry David)

  • Gastro Obscura – unique food/drink from places around the world.

  • New, New York Times ads from Droga 5 are really nice (who are what you read)

  • I like the new Uber Eats ads

  • https://dreamachine.world/experience inspired by an extraordinary but little-known 1959 invention by artist–inventor Brion Gysin. His experimental homemade device used flickering light to create vivid illusions, kaleidoscopic patterns and explosions of colour in the mind of the viewer. Designed to be the ‘first artwork to be experienced with your eyes closed’. Signed up for tickets

  • https://www.storylivingbydisney.com/ weird.

  • Life drawing at The Beehive pub in Tottenham

JANUARY

WATCHING

  • The Lost Daughter – Motherhood like you haven’t seen before. Olivia Colman is, as always, great. Playing someone not particularly likable, but so honest with herself, and her flaws as a mother (if that’s what you can call them) I found her endearing. Beautifully shot, and has stayed with me.

  • The Tourist – not great, but good. Fargo-esq

  • Polished – Nicely shot short

  • PEN15 S2 – lols

  • Licorice Pizza – Joyus and beautiful. Cooper Hoffman and Alana Haim are fantastic – great chemistry. The soundtrack, full of 70’s soul is perfect. It felt like being in the middle of Summer. The whole thing looks great, a gorgeous wash of colours plant you firmly in 1970’s California. Lots of running. From water beds to pinball the scenes and settings are all really fun and it’s just a film you smile the whole way through. There are loads of great cameos but my favourite was Harriet Sansom Harris as the talent agent whose facial expressions had me lolling.

  • The Trip - Norwegian black comedy on Netflix. Fun, and some very dark scenes…

  • Green Planet

  • Screw

  • After Life - season 3. I cried a lot.

  • Boiling Point – I wanted to like this more. The cinematography is really impressive; a one-take single shot, following kitchen/front of house staff through a kitchen/restaurant (filmed at Jones & Sons in Dalston) with the ledge, Stephen Graeme, but I didn’t feel much of a connection to the characters. It didn’t reach ‘boiling point’ and was more very hot…

  • Yellowjackets – Absolutely lovvvvve it. So addictive. Great cast, great characters – fascinating plot (not sure on the ‘supernatural’ element) but very very binge-able.

  • The House – Surreal animated trilogy. Very creepy

READING

  • Small Pleasures by Clare Chambers – Started well, then I got a bit bored. It felt very much like reading an episode of Heartbeat for a bit, but then I got into it again and loved it. The ending had me in near tears. The main character, Jean, lives such a small life, and then just as it gets big… I wanted her to have it all. I feel like she deserved it. So yes, was well invested.

  • Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart – Heard amazing things but have avoided reading for a while because I’m sure I will be a sobbing mess. So far so bleak, sooooo beautifully written. I’ve very nearly finished, and have found myself thinking about it a lot. It’s so sad and has made me think a lot about the ‘life lottery’ - where we are born, who our parents are…the ugly, heartbreaking disease of alcoholism. I will definitely read his next book.

  • https://marketingexamples.com/inspiration – Copywriting examples…. Five tools for your toolbox 1. Parallelism - “some see... we see...” 2. Alliteration - “wonky... wonderful” 3. Implied metaphor - “Rescue...” 4. Tricolon - “too big” “too small” “too many” 5. Repetition - “Buy Odd, buy Oddbox”

  • Have We Forgotten How to Read Critically? Kate Harding Jan 7, 2022 in Dame Magazine

  • https://www.formatsunpacked.com/p/formats-unpacked-wordle – Notes a few reasons Wordle works – simplicity and scarcity, as well as it being something we can all collectively do. Guessing the same word each day.

LOOKING

  • Craig Keenan’s Cyanotypes – gorgeous prints

  • Jochen Mühlenbrink – Oil painintings – OIL PAINTINGS! (That look like photographs taken through misty windows) I love them so much. Realism amazingness

  • Alma Berrow’s ceramics, make the ugly beautiful. I’m into the ashtrays in particular. Via It’s Nice That.

  • Annie Wang – The Mother as a Creator. I love that Annie explores everything in such a personal way, and with this project in particular looks at Motherhood as a creative project, to challenge the feeling of losing her sense of self. It’s really resonated with me as I’m having the same thoughts. The idea and notion of the project is also so nicely executed, with the ‘time tunnel’ of photographs. It’s made me think I’d like to do some kind of creative documentation of my journey into motherhood. Another series of photographs I really love are ‘At the Same Height’ her artist statement about seeking respect and learning to grow with her son is really touching, and this is an idea I’m going to steal.

LISTENING

OTHER STUFF

  • Green Park ‘Green Planet’ takeover – covering the underground with the most amazing macro photography of plants.

  • https://sketch.metademolab.com/ – a great demo that animates a drawing of a character. It’s really very good!

  • via Web Curios – a collection of stickers on lamp posts found around Hackney/Islington, 2020/21 by journalist Paul Slade. Great documentation of the time. Hopefully, he keeps doing this

  • https://www.powerlanguage.co.uk/wordle/

  • https://ao.artball.io/ – ‘The first official Australian Open NFT’ I generally can’t handle any NFT info (because I find there is too much of it and my boyfriend is heavily involved in that world so I just feel I should leave it to him) but this is a nice idea. An update on the idea of ‘own a bit of the pitch/court’ concept: 6,776 NFT’s randomly assigned to real on-court plots – and the chance to win championship match balls – by #Chainlink VRF. Using real data from the matches to create the artworks/balls. All on Open Sea

  • Relingo – A Chrome extension that helps you learn/refresh a language. Really lovely idea.

  • Wordle. Obvs. I’m late to the party but now addicted. And a sweary one

  • https://paperwebsite.com/ – A really clever idea, and one I appreciate as a non-coder/luditte. Turn your writing, your notebook/scribbles into a website by photographing it. Noice. It’s also cheaper than Squarespace.

  • Virtual Writers Room

  • https://cdgrandprix.com/ MSCHF’s latest project with illegal merch – creating ‘F1’ style tops with a number of big company logos (Disney/Amazon etc) to see who would slap them with a cease and desist fist. Subway won. People that bought the Subway top, also got a hat (as well as the top). Silly and fun.

  • https://solarimpulse.com/solutions-explorer – Useful website that shows all of the GOOD things being done to slow down climate change. Refreshing.

DECEMBER

WATCHING

  • Power of the Dog - verrrrrry slow start, but! Cumberbatch is amazing, and it really picks up to reveal a conniving plot. Loved how my feelings towards the characters flipped from beginning to end.

  • Beautiful Day in the Neighbourhood - loved this. The setup is different enough that it’s not overly saccharine. Tom Hanks is great.

  • Nocturnal Animals – Jake G. Wasn’t expecting how vile it is (the fictional story)

  • The Guilty – Jake G again. Meh, a lesser ‘Phone Booth’

  • Pen15 - LOLS

  • When Harry Met Santa – so this is technically an advert, that’s a bit ambling at the start, but it’s a lovely, weird short film. From the Norwegian Postal service.

  • Little Simz – I Love You, I Hate You – The Film – I just love her so much. Directed by Sam Pilling

  • Happiest Season – Wrote a ‘proper review’ about this for Its not that boring.

  • Velvet Buzzsaw – Dorian Gray vibes, quite silly but fun. I really didn’t like Zawe Ashton – I don’t think you’re supposed to, but I find her irritating and don’t rate her. Meow

  • True Story - Kevin Hart. Very good – did not expect it to be

  • Succession S3

  • Curb S11

  • The Unforgivable - Sandra Bullock

  • Little Women (new one)

  • Landscapers - Brilliant. Great acting (Olivia Coleman and David Thewlis) and a refreshing, surreal take on what could have been a very standard.

  • Encounter - Riz is reliably great, and I did enjoy this but I guessed what was happening very early in the story and so it felt like more needed to happen. It was a very steady watch.

  • I am… (C4 Series) These are all so great. Great performances all round, and so well observed.

  • Don’t Look Up – So disappointed. I didn’t find it funny… Jennifer Lawrence was the best thing about the film. It was also good to see Leo play a different kind of role. Jonah Hill was not good, but then I don’t think his part was well written. There’s too much going on, and yet nothing seems to happen (apart from the inevitable comet). UGH. What happened Adam McKay!?
    To Die For - 90s Nicole Kidman

  • Ratatouille (and various other wholesome films for lazy Christmas watching)

  • The Secret Life of Pets 2 – I loved this!

READING

  • Sorrow and Bliss by Meg Mason – Got through this so quickly. I loved it, and after I’d finished reading it I was very reflective and felt full of gratitude. It’s one of those books you can read over and over.

  • Small Pleasures by Clare Chambers – So far so good. I wouldn’t have chosen this, but was recommended. it has a clear ‘plot’ which is something most of the books I’ve been reading recently don’t have, so it’s a nice change.

  • On “Succession,” Jeremy Strong Doesn’t Get the Joke – Great article/interview with the actor playing Kendal Roy. I would watch a film about him…

  • Birds Aren’t Real, or Are They? Inside a Gen Z Conspiracy Theory. New York Times piece on Peter McIndoe, the 23-year-old creator of the viral Birds Aren’t Real movement – a parody social movement that pokes fun at misinformation.

  • Worms magazine - A magazine about reading and writing – I love the branding and ethos behind Worms. ‘If you’re reading this, you are a worm. We’re all worms, and in the end, we’re going to be eaten by them. As a (book)worm, you will fertilize your mind with glorious words…’ I’ve ordered issue #4

  • Little Simz Rises – noisy

  • Another Little Simz piece from Port Magazine – Really well written by Natty Kasambala. Lots of gems from Little Simz - I really liked this quote: “Poems can easily be raps; raps can easily be stories; stories can easily be films, like they’re all linked and intertwined.” which speaks to her multidisciplinary as an artist.

  • The Milky Bar Adult, by Dave Dye – The true story of why so many adverts are so meh/shite. (An account of making an advert) so close to the bone you if you work in advertising you have to laugh/cry

  • 52 things I learned in 2021 – for some reason the one fact that I can still remember is that most people draw dead butterflies

  • https://www.ithoughtaboutthatalot.com/ – 24 essays written by 24 anonymous writers. One of the essays is about sobriety, which has prompted me to do some writing around my pregnancy and how I’m feeling. ‘Trapped in a leisure-less generation’ was another essay that stood out, and made me think about my mom, who cares for everyone, all the time, every day.

  • Genre Is Disappearing. What Comes Next? by Amanda Petrusich for The New Yorker

  • These Precious Days by Ann Patchett – An essay on friendship. Can’t remember where I came across this, but really enjoyed it. Beautiful writing. (Will now read one of her books, I’m very behind I know)

LOOKING

  • Bricks have never looked so sexy…

  • Nicky Hamilton Photography – I came across the image ‘Mothers Milk’ in Little Black Book. So surreal and powerful. His work is beautiful, focusing on his models/characters mental state, each photograph telling an emotional narrative. Love his cinematic otherworldly lighting. Love love love.

  • https://jeen-yuhs.com/ – The Kanye Netflix doc has a website, which is nicely designed. I liked the merch page. Reminded me of a photograph from the book ‘The Impossible Image’ - Which I’ve just checked was published 22 years ago…Jehzus!

  • https://virgilabloh.com/free-game/ – RIP to a design legend, and all round amazing guy. This free resource he created says a lot about the type of person Virgil Abloh was – sharing knowledge and helping others. A very useful and beautifully designed site (what else).

  • Lots of beautiful photographs

  • Pollinator Pathmaker – a tool that lets you input the size of your garden and then designs a bee haven for your space.

LISTENING

  • Rhett Nichol

  • Khadi Tatham

  • This soulful Christmas playlist from Love Will Save The Day

  • Cleo Sol, Mother

  • The Meters, Struttin’ (new record purchase)

  • All my favourite records: Alabama Shakes – Sound and Colour, Brittany Howard – Jamie, The Miseducation of Lauren Hill, Tyler – Flower Boy, The Slim Shady LP, Little Ann…

  • 6 Music's Festive Takeover Arlo Parks was full of great tracks – need to revisit

  • https://theshfl.com/ – Playlists NOT from an algorithm (found via Web Curios)

OTHER STUFF

  • Tyler the Creator has made a great, interesting, stylish, and different ad for his luggage collection. Love this film. He’s built a really nice brand – kind of like an ugly/more daring Wes Anderson world. https://golflefleur.com/

  • https://happytaxpayer.com/ – This is a website created to show the people of Finland what their taxes go towards. Designed in the style of Netlfix home screen, with the aim of people feeling positive towards paying tax. Someone needs to do one for the UK, I imagine it would be more complicated/depressing.