#11 The Offcuts
The good, the bad and the downright ugly
Happy Monday. Come on and shake off those post-weekend blues. It’s a new week. The sun is shining. Your highs and lows round-up has arrived. All is good in the world. I’m actually quite tired and I slept really badly so I’m unsure why I’m feeling chipper. Carpe diem, I guess.
I’m halfway through reading The Remains of The Day, my second Kazuo Ishiguro novel. I really enjoyed Ishiguro’s meticulous detail when it came to writing in a first-person narrative in Never Let Me Go and The Remains of The Day follows suit. Set in the 1950s, the book chronicles the life of a butler called Stevens. He’s bound by the idea of duty and his commitment to serve. A journey across the British countryside to reconnect with a housekeeper from his staff around 20 years ago threatens to change Stevens’ perspective on everything he thought he knew about fulfilment.
Saw someone share the Scamanda podcast on Instagram over the weekend. I’m so excited to get started. I love twisty tales of true crime trickery and there have been loads of shocking scam-related podcasts and TV shows released over the past year or so. To jog your memory, Inventing Anna, The Tinder Swindler, and The Dropout all hit our screens within a few weeks of each other last year. Time for my next fix.
I’m trying really hard not to get obsessed with Barbie but I’m failing miserably. The way in which Barbiecore has bled into other realms has me hooked. The Architectural Digest video of the Barbie Dreamhouse is the epitome of director Greta Gerwig’s intentions for the film. Gerwig set out to realise a whole world, “literally creating the alternate universe of Barbie Land”. The replica outfits worn by lead actress Margot Robbie and styled on real Barbie dolls throughout the years for the press tour and premiere continue to keep Gerwig’s dream of “authentic artificiality” alive.
The alleged Jonah Hill texts leaked by ex-girlfriend Sarah Brady are stark and yet somewhat unsurprising. I won’t dwell on whether he did or didn’t write them. I’m here to say that regardless, the content of the messages by whoever sent them is a vile display of coercion. And so, the policing of women’s bodies and using the language of therapy for control persists.
In a week where things have felt at times a little too busy, a tad overwhelming and a bit chaotic, I’m heading into this week hopefully a little more prepared. Taking each day as it comes with small strides - “the best preparation for tomorrow is doing your best today”.
