⤳ It’s been a busy couple of weeks since I last wrote anything here. Mainly work stuff that you won’t want to read about, but also going out for dinner (Bottle & Rye in Brixton, now a bit of a regular option as a lot of the places nearer to us in Crystal Palace have closed), meeting up with some old colleagues, and celebrating a friend’s birthdays (at the Exale tap room in Walthamstow - yep, I went all that way and yep, it took me ages to get home).
⤳ Having a birthday present to buy did make me visit Books in Peckham, the owner of which I interviewed for LiB a few weeks ago. It’s a terrific little shop. The second hand books are really reasonably priced, and the zine collection in there is amazing. Go visit if you’re nearby.
⤳ The most exciting event of the past fortnight was the Interesting Conferenceat Conway Hall. The speakers were so good this year, but the stand-outs for me were Hilary Nightingale. on ‘shopping lists’, Sarah Drummond on Don’t Say Gay, the Section 28 film she made, Jeffre Jackson on misophonia and Alex Mitchell on collecting the short stories of F. Scott Fitzgerald. Also - great badge making facilities.
⤳ Really happy with the contributor issue of LiB that went out this week: Working for the ‘King of Clubs’: My time at Stringfellow’s. I also interviewed a tattooist this week. More on that in the weeks to come.
⤳ I watched two films on Saturday while quite badly hungover. Living with Bill Nighy, had me in absolute floods (part hangover, part me being a film crier anyway); and Still, the Michael J Fox documentary was also very, very good.
⤳ Some interesting things I’ve read these past few weeks:
I’ve really been enjoying Jason Diamond’s newsletter, The Melt, in the past few months. This issue on the National French Fry Decline is about more than fries, and also led me to this Grub Street article on The New York Happy Meal (aka Martinis and fries).
I’m a sucker for poker articles. Sweet, ‘My mum is awesome’ poker articles are even better.
I really like Douglas Rushkoff and have been reading his books for years (you can find a little submission of mine in his ‘open source novel’ Exit Strategy ) so it was a little dispiriting to read this interview with him in Wired in which he talks about ‘renouncing the digital revolution’.
⤳ Listening to:
The new Jeffrey Silverstein album: