SOMEHOW, SUMMERTIME casts an enchanting spell. Even when trying to focus on work, the beckoning sunshine streaming through wide-open windows makes my gaze wander and the languid rhythms of summer days slows everything down.
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THIS WEEKEND was the May Bank Holiday, yet, today, we've chosen to forgo the leisurely pace and return to our usual routine, save for a walk in the rain in the early afternoon hours. The current state of upheaval, a time of transition and change for us, is making it challenging to concentrate on work until circumstances stabilise a little.
Clemency and I first began discussing a collaboration nearly six years ago, sometime in 2018. Little did we know that a worldwide pandemic was looming, which would soon put everything on hold.
THE CLOCKS went ahead last night, the sun is pouring in through the windows, it finally feels like spring and it's wonderful. Last week, at our Substack, there was a newsy life update, which you can read here. There was also a soft launch for subscribers of the new organic skincare line from New Zealand that I had been hinting about in past weekend links.
There are golden, springlike days peppered intermittently in with the cloudy ones, but we're waiting for a proper London summer, hot and filled with untold meanderings and adventures. I've been having issues with my hair for the past few weeks (oily at the scalp, discoloured, and extremely dry at the ends) and thought that I needed to switch up my shampoos and conditioners, but then dry patches began appearing on my skin.
FOR SOME TIME, we’ve been wanting to dedicate more time to writing, but haven’t had the opportunity or the right platform until now. Our Substack has provided the perfect space for us to explore long-form content, ranging from reflections, book and film critiques, to personal essays.
WHILE routine often carries a negative connotation, the film Perfect Days (Wim Wenders, 2023) invites viewers to find beauty in the mundane. It follows Hirayama, a Tokyo-based toilet cleaner who finds contentment in life's simple pleasures and the daily rituals that lend his days structure and tranquility.
I HAVE BEEN making these oatmeal breakfast cookies lately with maple syrup and dark chocolate chips. If you subscribe to our newsletter, you'll have the recipe. Both P and I have been reading quite a bit about manifesting, as well as the concept of dopamine fasting...
P IS IN THE middle of reading The Bee Sting by Paul Murray and I've just finished All Made Up by Rae Nudson as well as Le Petit Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (yes, I know, it's crazy that this is my first time ever reading that classic), and am now just starting The Beautiful and Damned by F. Scott Fitzgerald.
RECENTLY finished reading Susan Sontag's essay, "The Double Standard Of Aging" (1972) and found it very enlightening. Made a lot of notes, some of which I'll share in an upcoming article, but mostly, thought for a long time about her ideas on the subject, and what it it means to be a woman in today's society.
I FINALLY finished Little Women and understand now while it did not end satisfactorily. Louisa May Alcott had written it for money, at the request from her publisher (and a little nudge from her father), and she apparently did not enjoy the process. She also wanted the main character, Jo, to remain unmarried, but at the time (1868–69), this was not possible and the character had to be married off.
P WROTE LAST week's Newsletter, and it's about American Fiction, as well as the author whose work inspired the film, whom he is now reading. (You can find it here.) While still in the middle Little Women, of course I started two new books—the latest being In the Swarm: Digital Prospects by philosopher and cultural theorist Byung-Chul Han.
LAST WEEK, during cardio, was watching a film in which two of the main characters were a British couple living somewhere in Italy. Italy, of course, was very much a main character itself, with its terracotta orange and olive green and blindingly sunny skies. It looked idyllic.
An examination of the loft setting aesthetic that was prominent in late 90s/early 2000s indie and studio films, capturing the bohemian, countercultural experiences of young urbanites. Explores the rise of this gritty, artistic stylistic choice across examples like Garden State and Rent...
FOR QUITE some time, we had intended to visit Primrose Hill, the charming neighbourhood in northwest London nestled between Camden Town and Regent’s Park. However, it was the opening of a new bagel shop on Regent’s Park Road that proved to be the incentive we needed to finally make the excursion.