#60 The Offcuts
Shakespeare, blockbusters, and going bananas
I can’t believe it’s May, and now I’m ready for time to slow down again. After wishing it away at the bitter end of winter, and longing for spring to arrive, the sun coming with it too so now I want to pause for a bit. I had my first outdoor swim of the year. Took me much longer to be brave enough this year, I somehow managed to go in February last year. I’ve found it hard to pull myself away from swimming in the leisure centre and taking refuge in the sauna.
I finished My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh. Enjoyed it more than I expected to. I know we’re all toying with the idea that the messy, typically single and slightly alcoholic, failing millennial woman is a trope we’re bored and tired of. I disagree. Strong female leads in fiction deserve to have the airtime they’ve been denied in all shapes and forms of what life can encompass as a woman. I also finished Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano. The way the book ended rounded things off a little more nicely for me. I started Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman. I’m two chapters in, so not much to say yet. I’m sensing a heart-warming read.
Other reads:
Modern culture and emergent technologies are reshaping our relationship to dreaming
Instagram is ‘excess’ by design
An obsession with solo hotel stays
Outdoor dining is terrible - I don’t agree, but it’s always fun to read about the things people hate or find annoying
What the surge in support for Reform means for UK politics
Some men think their eyelashes are too feminine
I’ve heard so many good things about Sinners. Not another vampire film, right? There does seem to be an uptick in them lately. I still haven’t seen Nosferatu, but the Twilight movie franchise is one of my guilty obsessions. Vampires, I can get on board with. Sinners is even getting an IMAX re-release owing to its popularity. A lot of theories as to why it’s had such incredible success. I particularly enjoyed reading this.
The heat this week has made me feel so dehydrated throughout the day. Feels like a fever dream today. Not only have I been desperate for water, but in anticipation of quenching my thirst, I’ve also been thinking a lot about ice lollies. A Twister has been one of my favourites since I was little. I have a memory of my brother eating green Solero Shots (RIP to another great one) and us pretending he was eating out of a bin, because of the packaging they came in. Don’t think I’ll be craving one this week, but plenty of time to update the ranking this summer.
The Jon Gries campaign for Jacquemus has made me feel awe and discomfort in equal measure. I take real issue with the bananas. Jacquemus has gone bananas since opening their new LA store. The yellow theme was extended throughout, even to a branded banana car that parked up outside.
I am sick of getting covered in grease from Lime bikes. They slather the things in it. If I ever need to adjust my seat, I’m prepared for my hands to look like a mechanic's. My trousers must have grazed the chain on one of my rides this week, and so I must suffer the consequences. It wouldn’t be the first time. But this time, I knew what to do. I slathered the stain in washing-up liquid and then soaked it in cold water. Voila, as good as new.
The month of May always brings to mind Shakespeare’s Sonnet 18 and the darling buds of May shaking in the wind. Summer days are here, baby. And so have the rough winds been this weekend, too.
Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May
