📆 March; life, living, and Monday night dinners
Restitching the seams
We’ve all agreed that February didn’t happen so we can ignore my missing Bookmark instalment, right? Good.
I feel like the overwhelming themes in every conversation I have at the moment is that people have had a big start to 2024 for one (or both) of two reasons;
significant transformations or changes happening, and/or
big ‘life stuff’ to deal with either themselves or with the people close to them, particularly big medical stuff.
Personally, I’m sitting in bucket #1. And with this, comes an apparent inability to fit extra things in my brain, or maintain some of my usual good habits (although I’m making progress on resetting those). I’ve found myself falling behind on the newsletters I usually enjoy, and uninspired to listen to new podcasts, sticking instead to the firm favourites that I always catch when there’s a new episode; Hard Fork, Pivot, Maintenance Phase, and If Books Could Kill.
However, I have been inspired to do something I love doing, but had fallen out of the habit of since 2020; having friends over for dinner.
A few weeks ago, a new friend suggested that her and I go out with another new friend of hers (who I hadn’t met). I raised that with an invitation that the three of us should come to mine for dinner instead of going to a restaurant. We had the nicest evening of long, funny, real conversations without feeling rushed, shouting over everyone else, or dealing with bank details and money exchanges (because Melbourne restaurants hate splitting bills).
I’ve also started a new ritual with my next door neighbour and his nine-year-old daughter. Every other Monday we all cook and eat dinner together, taking it in turns to host. We’ve done two of these dinners so far, and it’s been such a lovely, wholesome addition to my weeks.
One habit I have definitely not fallen out of the habit of is seeing live music. On Saturday, I finally made it to WOMADelaide. Despite a short outing to the festival as a result of the outrageous 40C heat, it was a real joy; friendly atmosphere, great music, and all set in the beautiful location of Adelaide’s botanical gardens. I will definitely be back another (cooler?) year.
I also caught The National do a fantastic show last week in Melbourne, saw Jose González (twice), who is touring the 20 year anniversary of his debut album Veneer (fun fact: Veneer was one of the two CDs I had in my first car), and enjoyed Queens of the Stone Age, bringing down the house down at the Myer Music Bowl a few weeks ago. That particular gig was a do-over for me as in 2018 I ended up having my appendix out the day I was supposed to see them play, which was much less fun.
Sometimes it can feel like you’re coming a bit undone at the seams when some of your regular habits start to crack or crumble. But even just writing this little missive I’ve realised that maybe it’s less about coming undone, and more about stitching yourself back up, just using different material.
To resetting,
Steph
PPS. To borrow from Austin Kleon, this newsletter is 'free but not cheap'. You can support their ongoing creation and keep me in books by buying me a coffee as a 'thank you', recommending it to a friend, or using one of the affiliate links in the email.
The it list 🔥
Here’s a few other things I’ve been obsessing over, enjoying, or doing recently…
Podcast - Search Engine; Who’s behind these scammy text messages we’ve all been getting?: I know I’ve recommended this podcast before, but this recent episode took a surprising, dark, but interesting turn as they looked into scam text messages and the groups behind them. Spotify | Apple
Podcast - Off Menu ft Noel Fielding: Whilst I’ve been in a bit of a podcast lull lately, I have turned to Off Menu several times for light audio relief. This episode made me laugh so much that I made a weird noise trying to stifle said laugh in the Coles freezer aisle. Spotify | Apple
Note: there’s a couple of references in this episode, which if you’d like to understand you should first watch this clip (4 mins) and then this clip (7 mins), before listening to the podcast.Album - TANGK by IDLES: A blend of two of my favourite musical flavours; rock and Radiohead. IDLES latest album has a bit of a moodier feel, influenced by it being produced by long-time Radiohead producer/legend Nigel Godrich. I am actually quite a fan of this blend and the resulting sound, but I did find myself missing the grittier feel of IDLES previous albums. I’ll be seeing them in all their raucous, positive goodness for the third time, and on a third continent, in September, and I’m interested to see how these tracks sit alongside the older stuff in a live set. Standout tracks: POP POP POP, Gift Horse, Dancer. Spotify
Album - Mountainhead by Everything Everything: Another album I’d been counting down to release day. I love this band and their electro-art-rock-proggy sound, and quirky lyrical sensibilities very much. They also always give me a healthy dose of nostalgia as their 2013 album Arc was heavy rotation listening on my Caterham to London commute that year. I personally think this album is a return to what they do best. Can’t wait to see them live again in May. Standout tracks: The Mad Stone and The End of the Contender. Spotify
Playlist - The evening mix: Every so often, Spotify serves me up a daily mix so perfect, that I have to save it immediately to preserve it forever more. This one popped up a few weeks ago, and I’ve listened to it almost every evening since. Spotify
Song - When You Were Mine by Fake Yawn: My clever, multi-talented friend John Anthony has just released his first single with his band Fake Yawn (an excellent name for a band, IMO). Listen. (Prefer an acoustic feel? You can put his solo johnsong tracks in your ears here).
Film - Anatomy of a Fall: If you want to feel very tense for two hours, this is worth a watch. I loved the complex dynamics and that you really didn’t know what was going to happen right until the very end.
Film - Dream Scenario: I was annoyed that I missed this at the cinema earlier this year, so finally caught it on streaming. I was expecting something funnier from the trailers, but it was actually quite sad and awkward. Still a good watch, but be prepared for it not being a light jaunt.
Apple TV - Slow Horses: My parents kept recommending this British MI5 series starring (national treasure) Gary Oldman, but like a good daughter, I ignored them (soz). However, they were right, it is great. I preferred series 1 and 3 to series 2. I also appreciated that there’s only six episodes per series.
Some places I popped up recently 👋🏻
App - The People Spot: Each month I pop up in the audio tracks of the People Spot app sharing a few interesting signals about the future. These audio clips are included in the free download (iPhone only) and you can use the code STEPHC for access to more content in the app.
We love your pop ups Steph.