A bundle of bits and bobs!

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Articles

This article is the precise brand of cultural and societal tidbit that I live for. Everyone has bad manners these days, everyone!

You’ve Heard of Ghost Kitchens. Meet the Ghost Franchises is a fascinating peek into how radically economies and business models are changing. It kind of feels like technology is changing the very nature of brands, and recalibrating the business world as we know it. Can’t wait to see what’s next honestly, what a time to be alive!

I’m horrified by what’s happening in Iran at the moment. Well, always, but particularly now. There might be hope! Here’s a good overview.

Loved this piece about Fran Leibowitz. I started watching Pretend it’s a City when it came out, imagining that this would be the exact brand of older-lady content that I typically greatly enjoy. Very quickly, though, I was disappointed. What I want from older-lady-content is spiciness and irreverence, but also self-awareness and humility, which are qualities that Leibowitz only moderately possesses.

If Kim Novak Were to Die: A Conversation with Patrizia Cavalli. I loved this piece for a glimpse into what I believe is a life of supreme glamour, and a peek into the mind of a fascinating woman. I love women like Cavalli; tough, original, instinctive, invigorating. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to have been friends with her?! This is what I wanted “Pretend it’s a City” to be. 

I Should Be Able to Mute America This one is a few months old but it still stands. I think it’s important for everyone to “consume America” in the same cautious, deliberate way that they consume anything else that could be dangerous, like alcohol or reality TV or junk food. America is hysterical at the best of times and deranged at the worst. Their normal is not normal. Their problems are not our problems, yet they position them to be. Considering the American influence on culture, politics and society is to consider the myriad other, better influences and voices we might engage with. Something to think about.

She’s Inheriting Millions. She Wants Her Wealth Taxed Away. - The New York Times I was really happy to read this, especially in the wake of so much discourse around effective altruism (also known as EA). Democracy and fairness depend on people paying taxes, and those taxes being allocated to causes as decided by democratically elected officials. The government needs to take responsibility for the people that they are elected to govern!! If you think EA is a good thing, ask yourself one simple question: should the agenda of our societies be decided by the rich? Because this is what EA is - rich people decided where resources should be allocated. Also, rich people having an excuse to get richer! It’s really quite dystopian.

I Am Tired of Watching People Go to Italy While I agree with the core message here (I’m dying to see a culinary documentary about the Nordics) I think the author is missing the point about why we tune into this stuff in the first place: comfort. We are engaging with content about Italy precisely because we know exactly what awaits us, which is familiarity, warmth, humour, and tradition. I’ve been writing an essay about what I call “comfort culture” for about 3 months now, maybe this will be the impetus to finally get it over the line! 

Friends are good for us … so why do many men have none at all? I know this isn’t the desired takeaway from this article but - go message your friends, all of them. Ask how they are, and care. A text message isn’t that hard, and showing your family and friends that you’re thinking of them could make a huge difference to their happiness and mental health. Also, I can’t wait to see this movie.

Books

I’ve been in a rut book-wise lately. I find that when I have been really busy at work and quite stressed, I really struggle to find the headspace to read. Funnily enough, Cousin Bette by Balzac was a real antidote to this funk. I could pick it up whenever and read a little bit or a lot. It’s no secret that this is a good book, but some classics are certainly more readable than others.

When in doubt, and when I can’t get excited about reading anything else, I pick up a Rachel Cusk book. I read The Temporary in a few days, and found it to be as un-put-downable, well-written, and insightful as everything else she writes. 

I’m working my way through Berlin Diary by William Shirer, which is considered the definitive first-hand account of the rise of the Nazis in Germany. I have been really hitting this topic over the head lately. I've also just finished Eichmann in Jerusalem: The banality of evil by Hannah Arendt, and the two are in a similar vein. Funnily enough, World War II and the holocaust are not topics that I want to be an expert on!! But I still learn things that blow me away. 

For example, did you know that Denmark was the only European country to openly reject and defy the Nazification of their country? They protected Jews, hid them, helped them escape….it’s kind of crazy to think that countries could have just said no to the Nazis when asked to hand over their Jews! Italy, Bulgaria, and one other (can’t remember, sorry!) refused to accept that they must become judenrein. How reassuring to remember that there is beauty and courage even during the very darkest of times. 

I’m looking for book recommendations at the moment, I’ve really struggled to find anything by a new author that got me excited. I basically just wrote a novel on the type of books I like to read, then realised that I should just throw it over to you all and hope for the best.

I’m currently reading Earthlings by Sayaka Murata (her other book, Convenience Store Woman, is cute), I didn’t realise this one would be so dark. I would definitely add a content warning to this book. I’m also in the middle of The Thief’s Journal by Jean Genet, and The Unwritten Book by Samantha Hunt which are both very, very good. I kind of just want something fun and easy but not dumb, if that makes sense?!!

Podcasts 

Dr. Gilmer and Mr. Hyde This is a really crazy story. I miss This American Life doing stories like this! I also definitely haven’t been paying attention, so if there’s an episode you think I’d like in this vein, send it my way. 

If you listen to The Humpback and the Killer and don’t exclaim in disbelief and then burst into tears several times, then I salute you. You have a much better command of your emotions than I do.

I really liked this episode of Honestly with Bari Weiss, called Eating Ourselves to Death. It’s all about metabolic health and how fucked up our understanding of what’s good for us is. I think that we have totally lost track of what is healthy and what’s not.

It’s not about the burden on the public healthcare system - I believe we are autonomous human beings and we are allowed to do whatever we want to do to our own bodies - smoke all the cigarettes you want, it’s your life!

But I do think that if you’ve ever spent any time in hospital, it makes sense to try to avoid going back there as much as you can. Eating sugary foods, lots of fried things, drinking a lot, these are all surefire ways to land yourself in the doctor’s office much more often than you might be otherwise. This podcast highlights all the ways in which we damage our health. Here’s another one that I really enjoyed on the topic.

Movies

I’m loving going to the movies lately. I saw Amsterdam which was terrible and so boring, so I wouldn’t recommend that. Honestly, movies must be so hard to make, there are so many shockers out there!!

See How They Run was cute and fun, a perfect Sunday afternoon movie. We saw it on impulse after seeing an art show. Not amazing, but a nice little story, well executed. Saoirse Ronan and Sam Rockwell are always a pleasure to watch.

I mostly loved Triangle of Sadness but felt it would have benefitted from another round of editing. It was the funniest movie I’ve seen in a while, I was laughing out loud, which is super unusual for me. There’s one scene on the boat (no spoilers) where things get sketchy, and where usually I hate that type of humour, I thought it worked super well.

Finally, I watched The Wonder on Netflix. I am surprised I even started watching this, and even more surprised that I not only finished it, but loved it. I’ve been very deliberately avoiding anything that could be classified as “grim” lately, and this one looked, well, grim. But I thought it was a small story done beautifully. Great performances, unexpected plot, interesting and very believable characters. I don’t know, I was so pleased! Completely easy to watch too, perfect length etc.

Side notes

This is my new favourite Instagram account. This post in particular sparks intense joy (scroll through to the video of the mama bear and her cubs).

Fleishman Is In Trouble I’m super looking forward to this. I tried to read the book several times because it sounded really page-turny and fun, but I just couldn’t get past the cheesy writing. Glad someone is making it easy for me!!

Learned about the concept of a Pyrrhic victory recently. Needless to say, it was in the context of Putin.

This is weird and interesting. God I love conspiracy theories!

I helped to write a book!! You can download the PDF here.

Thanks for reading, and have a lovely weekend ❤️