I’ve found myself to be seriously immersive recently, making time for reading, listening and watching stuff, more so than ever before. It’s all too easy (for myself at least) to get caught up in a daily cycle of going to work, eating, working out in the gym, or more accurately… binge watch soaps and going to bed. However, recently I have been trying to be a little more active and a little less passive when it comes to what i’m consuming online.
I’m very guilty of mindlessly scrolling Instagram and Facebook, but it’s never really a healthy thing to do, all thanks to the joy-kill that is self-comparison.
… and quite frankly, I’ve been desperate to stimulate my mind with things that packed a little more punch and are a little more creative.
documentaries: It’s taken a while, but thanks to my boyfriend I have access to Netflix and yep, I feel like i’m 3 thousand years late on the bandwagon. Anyhow, with the attention span of a gnat when it comes to films, yet I can quite easily plow through a three hour episode of Midsomer Murders without blinking, I have been dabbling with documentaries. Abstract: The art of design is absolutely brilliant, the series is compiled of 8 individual stories and focuses on influentials within areas of the design space, there is Ilse Crawford on interior design, Paula Scher of Pentagram oust on graphic design and Christoph Niemann on illustration, with other profiles included on architecture, footwear designing, stage design, automotive design and photography.
Not only are the stories excellently put together, but the stories shared are really, really interesting – especially for me, and my fella whose bread and butter comes from digital design. My favourites include Ilse Crawford’s insight on how she helped form the Cathay Pacific first class lounge using juxtaposing materials, and Paula Scher’s opinion on typography.
music: So it’s no secret that the Oasis documentary, Supersonic was one of my favourite cinematic releases of 2016 and then along came BBC 6 music’s ‘What’s the story’ feature lead by Mark Radcliffe and including interviews with everyone who is everyone…Gallagher bros included, obvs.
Sure, it tells the same tale as Supersonic, but there’s something about hearing the interviews and songs through earphones that makes the whole experience a little ASMR, not to mention when that stolen riff of Cigarettes and alcohol kicks in.
In fact, the whole thing has turned me a little Britpop nostalgic, I particularly like how Noel Gallagher states he was about a month away from writing Suede’s iconic, ‘Animal Nitrate’ – how can you know you’d have created a song like that? It’s also unleashed regular daily plays of Definitely Maybe, in the car, at work, at home – you name it. After all, it is an album written about being young and working it all out and having fun, which is a place I am currently very much at.
podcasts: I’ve always enjoyed Pandora Sykes’ ability to combine fashion with relevant pop culture and genuinely clever journalism, and I have really enjoyed her past articles: ‘we need to stop our obsession with lifestyle buzzwords’ and ‘the murky world of SPON’ and now, freshly freelance Pandora is back with Dolly Alderton for ‘The High Low’ a new pop culture podcast that follows the same rigour as their original ‘Pandolly’ podcast for The Times.
The new show is a complete mix of trivia and political chat, and the balance is right and if you like the whole CTRL ALT delete vibe, you’ll probably like this too.
I have to give a late shout out to Marian Keyes’ desert island discs for BBC Radio 4. It’s a real tonic, Marian talks openly about her episodes of depression and how writing only authenticates her true self.
reading: It’s no secret that I bloody love The Pool, I feel like it is a news, lifestyle and opinion outlet that gets the kind of woman that I am and what I stand for. Yeah, it was founded by journalist Sam Baker and DJ, Lauren Laverne who are kewl AF and Sali Hughes writes for it, which make it clearly a winner in my eyes but it’s also bang on the money in all areas that women care about. One of their recent articles ‘What happens when a man switches work emails with a female colleague’ was both terrifying and insightful in the way it is shedding light on what we already know to be true about gender equality in the workplace, but is often swept under the carpet.
I also found the Thordis Elvia, Tom Stranger’s story ‘Can I forgive the man who raped me’ piece on The Guardian absolutely harrowing, especially watching them tell their story so accurately and vividly for a TED Talk. Some real takeaways from the video and well worth a watch, but requiring of a sensitive content warning.
If you’re looking for a great new space to feel inspired and digest interviews from ‘girls in real life’ check out the: “space for talented women to talk about what they do and how they do it.” “Where all interviews published are real conversations and feature original commissioned photography.”I particularly like Gynelle Leon’s interview, the owner of PRICK – London’s first cacti and succulent shop, she has some gorgeous things to say and the imagery is pretty Pinterest-able also.
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