Issue №16 | 24 June 2019 | ‘Sizzling’
Issue №16 | 24 June 2019 | ‘Sizzling’
Howdy Freya,
Look at us go. We’ve got personalised emails now, as part of the next wave of computerised attempts to seem more humane but actually just coming across as downright creepy.
While the world seems consumed by the ever-heinous leadership contest, the exciting absence of rain from this week’s Glastonbury forecast and what on earth is going to happen between Danny and Yewande on Love Island, we’re here to deliver you something a little different.
Weird rhyming haikus, a dog-walking podcast, Chinese rap and a spicy pair of linen trousers — this issue’s got the lot. Alex and Freya
Do
A documentary…
‘Trapped in the city of a thousand mountains — rap in China’ — The Guardian
Go on, I dare you. Pause Love Island for 20 minutes and watch this outrageously interesting documentary about rap music and censorship in Chongqing instead.
The production value on this absolutely stellar: eye-watering cinematography and Blade Runner-esque sound design combine as you meet the city’s rappers who feel the heat as they release music under the watchful eye of the one-party state. Alex
Read
A book…
Diary of a Somebody by Brian Bilston
Poetry is often thought of as either woeful tales of 19th-century white dudes or pretentious Instagram haikus by woke millennials. Well, I’ve found the perfect antidote to these poetry clichés, and it comes in the form of Brian Bilston.
His poems are intelligent, pun-filled and genuinely laugh-out-loud funny. I hate that expression — it makes me sound like a paid-up member of Richard & Judy’s summer book club — but I actually did laugh (with sound) a number of times reading this.
It starts on 1 January as Bilston’s new year’s resolution to write a poem each day. This lasts all of about two days, with some days just dedicated to his rambling prose. His poems are real novelties: vastly varied in format, never taking themselves too seriously. Check his Twitter feed for a taster. Freya
An article…
It’s a Strange World that we live in — made all the more stranger by social media. And now it’s got its paws on how we communicate with each other.
Luckily, Nicole Gallucci has noticed and she’s written a fascinating article analysing the bemusing habit in which people capitalise letters in their social media captions and posts.
Annoying or not, it’s just one of a handful of writing trends that have gained traction online in recent years, posing the question: do we really need English lessons anymore? Alex
Hear
An album…
Here’s something short, sweet and with many an infectious beat.
Canadian electronic musician Dan Snaith has a variety of musical personas, and here we see him return as Daphni to create a four track EP that is the perfect energiser for the start of the day.
It’s the opening track that is the real standout. Sampling a long-lost single by 80s pop outfit Paradise, Daphni breathes new life into the vibrant disco arrangement, adding thumping beats, raising the tempo and crafting a perfectly timed drop. Lovely stuff. Alex
A podcast…
Walking the Dog: Emily Maitlis
A podcast with a genius concept enters our lives once again. Emily Dean presents the Walking the Dog podcast for The Times, in which she takes famous faces from radio and TV on a walk with her and her charming Shih Tzu, Raymond.
Emily Maitlis has been gracing our screens a lot lately, not least with the recent (hellish) BBC leadership debate and the infamous Brexit eye-roll that did the rounds on social media. Listen to her walk ’n’ talk with the other Emily, Raymond the Shih Tzu and her whippet Moody. She’s a total delight.
Other standout episodes: Mark Kermode, Sara Pascoe and Supervet. Freya
Think
Why British film and theatre needs to stop telling the same old stories…
Stuart Jeffries wrote a piece for The Guardian about British film’s obsession with the upper class, triggered by the upcoming release of the Downton Abbey film. It’s something that’s been on my mind too, following a trip to the theatre to see a stage adaptation of Kazuo Ishiguro’s 1989 novel The Remains of the Day, the story of a butler at a stately home. Although it’s a brilliant novel, it felt like a story that had been told a million times, so it felt lazy to be affording it precious stage-time. The role of theatre and film is to entertain, of course, but also to challenge.
Yes, these stories have become a major British export: the international success of Downton Abbey cannot be underestimated, but hasn’t this upstairs-downstairs trope of British cinema and theatre had its time? It seems regressive to focus on these tales of the privileged few from history, rather than telling the stories from our pasts that haven’t been heard, or, better still, examining our present and futures?
Stuart Jeffries writes, ‘The genius of Fellowes and other suppliers of period drama is to make us nostalgic for a time when the riff raff could aspire only to serve.’ Society’s evolved — why can’t entertainment do the same? Freya
Odds and Ends
If you’re tired of Jamie and Nigella, why not go 18th century?
Finally, here is a sport Freya could potentially win at.
#Capitalism
Because subtle is her middle name, Freya is yearning for these mini food earrings. Who wouldn’t want a stack of pancakes hanging from their ears?
As the weather slowly heats up, Alex has ditched the cords for these.
