SEPTEMBER

WATCHING

  • Napolean Dynomite – one of the best, most memorable title sequences

  • Tank and The Bangas - QUICK | OFFICIAL VIDEO - What a vid – also I’ve had HUMAN on repeat

  • MIA - MAI

  • Bad sisters – Love a black comedy and this is so much fun. The writing and pace is great; it follows a classic Murder Mystery plot with each episode presenting the sisters/suspects motive and various missed murder attempts. I really like Anne-Marie Duff, but in this role she’s the most unconvincing, maybe because her husband is SUCH a prick, and I can’t believe she would put up with that, but this might be because I always think of her as Fiona Gallagher from Shameless…

  • Funny pages – A Mom & Baby cinema watch. The first scene is GREAT – shocking, funny, and lewd – which sets the tone for the rest of the film. Although it didn’t quite live up to that first scene, I really enjoyed it. Reminded me a bit of Clerks.

  • Ted Lasso – I know I’m late to the game, but I love it. Great writing, great characters. THE most heartwarming, feel-good show. I need season 3.

  • Don’t worry darling – Meh!? It wasn’t bad, but it also wasn’t good. I wanted more of the creepy guy (Chris Pine/’Frank’). Oliva Wilde cited ‘Incel’ men as inspiration for the film, and it would have been much more interesting to explore that. It did LOOK very nice though.

  • Loot – Gave it a go as Maya Rudolph is brilliant, enjoyed it but in a very passive way.

  • A lot of The Simpsons. Season 32 with Olivia Coleman as ‘Lily’

READING

LOOKING

  • Brick flats – Spotted whilst wandering around Hackney. Bloody love em Here’s a map of where to find the IRL

  • Alexandre Luu Such beautiful illustrations with the humble pencil crayon, love the simplicity and how he brings them to life in animation. Looking for inspiration for a project of my own. Also found Dino Caruso Galvagno, who has a very different style, more anime – but so cool.

LISTENING

OTHER STUFF

  • Joe Lycett, MORE, MORE, MORE! HOW DO YOU LYCETT? HOW DO YOU LYCETT? – Very feel good, he is the troll queen. Seeing him in Brum was also very special. #gaybourhoodwatch

  • Dylan Moran @ EartH – I know his thing is being drunk and rambling, but there didn’t seem to be any punchlines… two of his support acts were great though, Huge Davis who does dead pan, musical lols & Ania Magliano who I really liked, particularly her ‘Horse girl’ bit that she takes to surrealist extremes, which are my favourite kind. Would like to see them both again.

  • Painted a plant pot like a cheese for my cheese plant, god I’m funny. It took me FAR too long.

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

JULY

WATCHING

  • Undeclared war. Decent series – the future of ‘fake news’ is very scary.

  • Roadrunner - Anthony Bordaine doc. Great watch, and very sad. There was a lot of chat about the use of an A.I.-generated version of Bourdain’s voice, which is very creepy and feels a bit unnecessary, BUT (as I read in this New Yorker article about the ethics of synthetic media) the generated audio was only to narrate text that Bourdain himself had written… so it’s not as weird/morally wrong as I assumed when everyone kicked off about it. ANYWAY, it’s a great film.

  • Prima Facie – Watched this at Castle Cinema. Jodie Comer is phenomenal. Sobbed my heart out.

  • How to Change your Mind (Netflix series) from the book of the same name, which I’ve read but found it pretty hard going, so really enjoyed the series.

READING

LOOKING

LISTENING

  • Burial, Untrue - finally found the vinyl. SUCH A GOOD ONE

  • Murkage Dave - the city needs a hero

  • https://www.mixcloud.com/djmeeshu/voodoo-soundsystem-5-31-22-wdj-meeshu-on-dubplatefm/?utm_source=notification&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=notification_new_upload&utm_content=html

  • The Kinks

  • https://lucalozano.bandcamp.com/album/man-of-science

  • https://anushka.bandcamp.com/album/go-el-train-remix lovely trumpetting / tromboning

  • https://www.mixcloud.com/djmeeshu/sweet-beats-soundsystem-6-14-22-wdj-meeshu-on-pigalle-paris-radio/?utm_source=notification&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=notification_new_upload&utm_content=html

  • https://www.mixcloud.com/Gaudiano/ego-trips-rest-of-the-best-vol-3-4060-special-mix-part-1-2022/

  • https://soundcloud.com/rinsefm/freshta050622

  • Loyal Carner A Little Late EP

OTHER STUFF

  • https://earth.fm/ – listen to nature from around the world. You can hear the sound of rain in the Charlot forest, or the desert wind in California. It’s very relaxing and good for you, so good. They (the people behind Earthfm) have made this for good reasons; “We’re building a non-profit, free repository of pure, immersive natural soundscapes as a fundraising platform for local, grassroots charities that support the restoration of our natural world”. GOOD

  • https://poppi.amsterdam/en/xtc-shop/ – a ‘mock shop’ / interactive exhibition that looks at legalising MDMA and how it could work. The ‘war on drugs’ or as it’s put in How to Change Your Mind ‘The War on Plants’ is crazy.

  • https://www.billthepatriarchy.com/about/ by Patti Maciesz – a mother living in America who, quite rightly, was/is pissed off that mothers are not given their dues. This site helps you quantify the amount of work you do as a mother, and then gives you an itemised invoice. It made me feel seen, and pissed off. It might not be much, but at least in the UK we get something… Based on my responses, the patriarchy owes me $189200. Sigh

JUNE

WATCHING

  • Workin’ Moms - completed it mate

  • Bergman Island - My first parent and baby cinema experience - I fell asleep. The noises of the babies were more entertaining than the film. Love Tim Roth still though

  • Legend – Tom Hardy is … so good!? Can’t decide if his depiction of Ronnie Cray is brilliant or a bit too Bungle from Rainbow.

  • Hustle – Adam Sandler

  • Glastoooo

  • Ellie and Natasia - sketch show lols

  • Wimbledon

  • Stranger Things

READING

  • Finished Young Mungo – brilliant and heartbreaking. More violent and tender at the same time than Shuggie Bain. His description of Mungo and James’ relationship is so vivid and beautiful. It would make a great film (calling Shane Meadows)?

  • Stereogum The Number Ones BY TOM BREIHAN – The Lauryn Hill essay is great

  • The most fun we ever had - borrowed from a friend. Would never have given it a go from the blurb/cover but really enjoying it. Intergenerational story of family fractures.

LOOKING

LISTENING

  • The Streets – Everything is Borrowed

  • GREEN TEA PENG – Finally got to see her live at The Royal Festival Hall and she was SO GOOD. Very pregnant, and very humble… amazing voice and the very mixed crowd there shows her universal appeal.

  • Grove - 6 music discovery. Feed My Desire is a dancey banger and she rhymes cervix with furnace which I’m here for.

  • Jon Hopkins

  • L.A Salami (heard on Craig Charles show)

  • Jeshi - Protein

  • My Spotify pie chart of the genres/artists I’m listening to (don’t know why this isn’t called Spotypie) OG link https://huangdarren1106.github.io/#

  • Glastoooo

OTHER STUFF

  • https://www.dresscircle.co.uk/ A list of all the theatre. I don’t go much, it’s expensive and as I watch a lot of films and TV it’s an art form that falls by the wayside. But, I’d love to go to some shows. Cabaret very much.

  • https://vole.wtf/penga/ a great time waster game for lols - love the sound effects. 10 highest score

  • Fern Brady @ Earth in Dalston

MAY

WATCHING

  • Russian Doll – Fan girling over Natasha Lyonne.

  • Everything Everywhere All At Once - wow. Loved it, and ‘sci fi’ isn’t usually my bag but this was fun and visually stunning, and funny and made me cry and, and, and - I will watch it again.

  • Batman (R Pats) – nope.

  • Chivalry - Coogan. Great lines - didn’t love where it went

  • Kevin can Fuck Himself – weird and interesting

  • Love Life - Easy watching

  • Derry Girls. The finale episode 😭

  • Eurovision – love Graeme Norton

  • Senior Year - hungover Sunday watching with Rebel Wilson

  • The Awakening – based on an Oliver Sacks book, with Robin Williams and Robert Deniro. All of these things made me think this will be good - can’t believe I haven’t heard of this movie!? It is not good. I don’t know what happened here.

  • Workin’ Mums

READING

LOOKING

LISTENING

  • SZA - CTRL

  • Kendrick Lamar - Mr. Morale and the Big Steppers (it’s a challenge for me…) & all his ‘Heart’ tracks

  • Tank and the Bangas – booked to see them in August

  • Danger Mouse, The Grey album

  • Action Bronson - Mr Wondferful

OTHER STUFF