‘Do Revenge’ and the delightful men who only ‘do’ models

Plus two truths and a lie

Let’s start this week’s instalment of Becks and the City off with a little getting-to-know-you exercise.

Which of these ‘facts’ about me is a barefaced falsehood?

1.     I once competed in an air guitar competition and despite an impressive slide into the splits, didn’t take home the prize

2.     While performing a slide-and-reverse maneouvre in a Mini on a stunt driving course, I almost ran over the instructor who was hosing the ground to reduce friction

3.     A Murray magpie recently pecked me in the eye, the tiny mongrel (my eye is fine)

I’m intrigued as to how these results will go. Leave a quick comment if you reckon you know the answer and see you back here next Tuesday to find out if you’re right.

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News

1.     Well, well, well... It turns out notorious modeliser Adam Levine is an utter hound. Who would have thought? Sex and the City tried to warn us

about this type of dude and Levine’s dating… er… preferences have been on the record for years. It’s up to wife Behati Prinsloo whether she believes his DMs-only story about cavorting with other women and forgives him, but in hindsight his relationship history was a sizeable red flag.

2.     While my feelings on JK Rowling are mixed due to her hurtful comments about the trans community, I can’t bring myself to stay mad at the Harry Potter series itself. I’ve been designated as Hufflepuff by the official Pottermore sorting hat and if we’re talking hybrid Hogwarts houses, I’m the intriguing combination of Slytherpuff. Along with Neville Longbottom, Dobby, and Luna Lovegood, Snape is one of my most cherished characters in the franchise and I’m still devastated by Alan Rickman’s passing in 2016. So, my interest was piqued when I saw a new book is coming out of his diary entries during his Harry Potter years and it seems there was a smidgeon of the trademark Snape snark in Alan as well. Maybe Alan was a Slytherpuff too.

3.     We’ll be waiting until November 2023 for the follow-up Hunger Games movie, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, but early details are emerging. I’ve read the book, which is set 64 years before Katniss’s tale and focuses on President Snow in his youth. Although I usually take a dim view of prequels, this one is executed extremely well (no pun intended), so I’m eagerly awaiting this dive back into Panem and its take on the politics of poverty.

Reviews

1.     Do Revenge on Netflix – featuring Maya Hawke (from Stranger Things) and Camila Mendes (Riverdale) teaming up to exact karma on their high school frenemies – is a good time and a half. There are so many hark-back winks to the likes of Clueless and Ten Things I Hate About You as its forebears, including teen show royalty Sarah Michelle Gellar as the shrewd, badass principal. I was mesmerised by the mint-and-lavender uniforms complete with berets, capelets, and knee socks (meanwhile my school mandated a vom-tastic maroon-and-grey combo, boo). Do Revenge is funny and comfortingly familiar, yet offering several fresh elements that’ll keep you guessing. And just quietly, any flick that renames Glenn-Close-in-Fatal-Attraction-energy as ‘Glennergy’ has my vote.

2.     Anyone who’s ever seen my Instagram will know I go gaga for a good flower pic. Georgianna Lane’s London in Bloom and New York in Bloom leapt out at me at the bookstore, and when I learned there was also a Paris version, I couldn’t stop thinking about completing the set and had to place it on order. Packed full of eyewateringly stylish snaps of flowers and floral motifs in the respective city settings, these books also contain field guides, addresses of the most glorious gardens, and instructions for creating your own bouquet. I’m in love.

3.     At 72 bucks a bottle, Skyn Iceland’s The Antidote Cooling Daily Lotion ain’t cheap, but I’ve reordered several times from Mecca because it’s so damn good. I consider this almost a medicine rather than a beauty product. If you’re like me and get migraines, the icy peppermint scent works me back from the edge of spending several hours of crying in a dark room (if I don’t quite need to crack out the Nurofen yet). It’s lightweight and doesn’t make me break out and is vegan for good measure. Worth the high price point.

Raves and Faves

The most covetable Aussie author websites of 2022

Cruising around other writers’ corners of the internet counts as work as far as I’m concerned, or it’s at least work-adjacent, which is close enough. I’ve been conducting extensive renovations of my website across this July-August-September. Or maybe, not much has changed. You know when you work hard on something and in your mind you’ve made gigantic strides forward and everyone else looks at your project and shrugs and can’t see the difference? I suspect it’s one of those scenarios.

Anyway, here’s a list of the writerly websites I’ve been eyeing off along the way.

These are the authors knocking it out of the park for me this year, web-wise.

1.     Rachael Johns: The Undisputed Queen of Australian Women’s Fiction

Clean, intuitive navigation? Tick. Professional, but with personality? Tick. Cute pics and colour scheme? Yup, all that too.

2.     Natasha Lester

This one is so, so elegant and captures the essence of Natasha’s books in the design of the site. Spending time here makes you feel fancy and really does tempt you to buy her fashion-flavoured historical novels.

3.     Sarah Ayoub

Journalist and YA author Sarah Ayoub’s website combines classy colours; a love of French details; bold, beautiful photos; and a lovely approachable writing style.

4.     Bri Lee

This is such a mature but likeable website. It’s very easy to understand where you are at any point in time, and packs a lot of information in without mincing words. There are splashes of fun from the ‘Teaching and Travel’ tab and the link to Bri’s Substack.

5.     Gabrielle Tozer

The adorable blue hearts on the homepage! A bubbly little freebies page! The chirpy voice! Yes, yes, yes.

Playlist of the Week

After-work drinks at the best bar in town:

1. Prada - Arca

2. Happy Days - Vood Gibes

3. Am I Wrong - Nico & Vinz

4. Ceylon Drift - Phello

5. I Want It That Way - Zita, Jonah Baker

6. Bitch Better Have My Money - Cookie Crumble

7. Naïve - Isabella Manfredi

8. Don’t Call Me Up - BLANDOS

9. California Dreamin’ - Yann Muller

10. R&R - UPTNS

11. Sunflower - Gill Baits

12. No Scrubs - Sorvats Nivek, DERWA

13. glacial groove - Goose Groovy

14. How Deep Is Your Love - TIVON

15. Lush Nights - Whisper & Hush