the other side
“It’s strange- all this lovely weather and yet you never see any washing out.” - David Hockney’s Mum on visiting him in Los Angeles for the first time. Not a hills hoist or an electric kettle in sight.
What I’d love is for someone to write profiles on or host a podcast with celebrities who isn’t a sycophant or writing a screenplay or trying to move to LA or wants said celebrity to like them and be friends with them at the end of the interview. Is there anyone who doesn’t want to be famous and is not seduced by fame? Give them a show!
I’m not much of a jewelry-wearer but I’ve barely worn my wedding ring this pandemic year which makes me think “who do I wear my wedding ring for?” I’ve noticed in the past that I’ll sometimes grab it to wear for a yoga class, like what’s that about.
Listening…
My favorite podcast. Jacqueline Novak’s mind, okay.
Sheila Heti’s podcast which is not new but that I discovered after doing a writing class with her last month. I love the way her brain works so I really enjoyed hearing her talk shit for hours but I imagine some people might hate this. Sheila said this thing in class about how she doesn’t like acknowledgements at the end of books “I don’t want to know that the author loves her husband” lol. I love them because they read like Awards acceptance speeches and are filled with hidden goss based on who is thanked and who is omitted. Like Torrey Peters and her ex-wife are still on good terms, love that. Emma Cline thanking Spike Jonze in her book? OK, there’s a story there.
Reading…
The Inland Sea by Madeleine Watts. Fresh from arriving back from Sydney, I read this incredible novel set in 2013 Sydney to make me even more homesick. The protagonist felt like a close friend I might have had. She spends her time at the Courty, swimming at ocean pools, walking around Sydney Uni, going to house parties in Redfern and listening to FBi radio. It also brought back intense memories of how much Jill Meagher's death (which is discussed in the book) shook everyone at that time.
Detransition, Baby by Torrey Peters. I miss these characters and eagerly await the TV adaptation. I have such a specific image in my head of what Katrina looks like.
Everything is Horrible and Wonderful by Stephanie Wittels Wachs. I still think about my friend Harris often, especially around the date of his death February 19. I had not felt ready to read his sister’s book or didn’t feel the desire to until last week when I read it in a day. I learned a lot of shocking, new details but it was something about how Harris’ Dad dealt with his death (or didn’t) that just broke me.
The Life of the Mind by Christine Smallwood. Smallwood hive rise up.
Watching…
‘I Hate Suzie’! I am also from Reading, babes. I love Billie. I saw her a few years ago in ‘Yerma’ with Brendan Cowell and she blew me away like “Oh you can act act”. Because I first loved her in the U.K. as a pop singer, I hadn’t realized I guess.
A Netflix reality show called ‘Alone’ (start with season 6) where they dump 10 people in the Arctic and the last one standing wins a million dollars. Season six is the one! We watched this at the same time as ‘Billions’ which was disorienting. On back-to-back episodes we watched, they were eating squirrels on ‘Alone’ and ortolan on ‘Billions’.
I watched Funny Ha Ha. The first ‘mumblecore’ film. It felt comforting to be in this era of fashion and music in a movie about people just kinda hanging out. The cast all have crazy ‘Where are they Now?’ stories like one of the leads is the cofounder of OkCupid.
Garlic Is As Good As Ten Mothers is a documentary from 1980 about garlic that heavily features Alice Waters and the Chez Panisse/ Berkeley scene. Very white people culture but this was worth it for the 80s footage and because the leader of the garlic revolution was named John Harris. A very strong impulse to add a tablespoon of minced garlic to all meals since watching.
‘Call My Agent!’ naturally.
Buying…
How good is this tile at my new, local grocery store. When I first visited America, Whole Foods was the height of grocery store luxury and I could spend ages perusing the aisles and looking at all the products. But post-Bezos it’s trash so there’s been a lot of small, neighborhood pop-up boutique stores like ‘Wine and Eggs’ and ‘Cookbook’. And for the larger grocery store experience, it’s been about Erewhon for many years now. But nothing will replace my love for India Sweets & Spices- the local Indian shop choc full of organic lentils, spices, fresh produce, incense, Masala Maggi noodles, teas and any number of adaptogens (at a tenth of the price of Moon Juice).
A black coffee with oat milk and a quarter tsp of agave syrup in a good diner mug? That can be so satisfying.
Wildflower seeds. Me and Isha planted these in our front yard last week and a bunch of birds started eating them immediately. I should do more research but my intention is to be kind-of-a-garden-person! We’ll see how many seeds survive.
I read something about how during these times, aesthetics matter. Making things beautiful matters because when things go to shit and you're feeling shit, you can look around and just be blown away by the beauty. Anyway, this is how I justified buying one of these candles.
I volunteered at a vaccination site and got vaccinated. It was kind of an incredible experience to be at the vax site- lots of children driving their elderly parents to get their shots- you could just feel their relief and gratitude. I will think back of all the times this year I’ve said to myself “Dark times. They’ve never been as dark as now” (bloody Knausgaard) while fixing Isha’s hundredth snack of the day or when in the quarantine hotel or looking at the same walls in the house day after day. I’ll probably look back and think, the dark times weren’t even that dark, chill. But they kinda were!
This weekend I am going to a bar (*Private island, all tested negative multiple times, wear a mask ❤️ ). The last time I was at a bar in L.A. was March 11 2020. I remember it vividly because it was the last ‘normal’ thing I did and I remember asking my friend that evening if she was still comfortable keeping our plans. At the time I rolled my eyes at people suggesting *all this* would last longer than a month or two. Truly humbling how wrong I’ve been about so many things this year!
“I will always be on the side of those who have nothing and who are not even allowed to enjoy the nothing they have in peace.” Federico Garcia Lorca
Lastly, Grace Murdoch’s insta for shocking, unfiltered Rupert content.