ELLE mag is back, strawberries and cream, and floating houses of the future
The giveaway this week is ‘Life Keeps Me Dancing’ by Eileen Kramer
Sliding in quickly today to say: remember in the last edition of Becks and the City I teased an upcoming interview with my good friend, gothic fiction author R. A. Wodecki? Well, it’s up on the Bookish Adelaide blog now! You can read it here. In the conversation, she and Bookish’s Alana untangle some of the ways women have been represented in gothic fiction and the ways this is changing for the better.
Speaking of all things spooky, last night there was thunder galore after we turned out the lights. Strangely, I actually slept well even with the sky booming and wailing. I feel I missed the opportunity to be penning a locked-room mystery or a creepy sci-fi by candlelight. Oh well, maybe next time.
This week, I’m obsessed with listening to the First Time podcast, hosted by Kate Mildenhall and Katherine Collette. It’s about the first time you publish a book, and has agents, editors, publishers, debut authors and more seasoned authors on as guests. At first, I picked out the odd episode here and there to listen to, but I’ve now gone back to the start and am listening to the whole thing from the beginning. I’m currently on episode 14 of season one. I know everyone’s an individual, but I’ve still been taken aback by how different every author’s perspective is about their experience compared to everyone else’s. They also often seem to have a very different experience from book to book. I thought once you’d written one, you’d have your whole system down pat, but apparently not so much.
That’s all for now. I hope you enjoy your week and discover many new, fresh, fluffy things.
News
1. This announcement caught my eye: ELLE Australia magazine will be making a comeback in 2024! I’ve missed seeing it at the newsagents, so I’m glad it will be returning, even if it’s only half-yearly to start with and then quarterly after that. I noticed the brand has been continuing to post regularly on Instagram, so I was holding out hope. So glad it’s coming true!
2. Not gonna lie, I’m supportive of anything that brings more strawberries and cream into the world. We don’t need Wimbledon as an excuse. These ex-farmers are operating a food van after getting jack of struggling along during a drought. Sounds like the right move for them and a much less stressful lifestyle.
3. We watched Kevin Costner’s Waterworld in high school and compared it with Mad Max for an assignment. Now the scenario in Waterworld is creeping closer to reality, as developers are thinking of building adaptable floating houses that will rise with sea levels. It’ll add to the living space available in cities and with around half the world’s population currently living on the coast, it makes sense to plan for the future. I’m not sure this form of housing would be for me with my distinct iffiness about boats and water, but it looks like a smart option to explore. Intriguing stuff.
Reviews
1. It’s no secret I’m fascinated by abandoned buildings, so I was thrilled to come across The Proper People’s YouTube channel. They explore various abandoned buildings, including hotels (such as this one), theme parks, malls, asylums, and palaces. I’m not even sure why I’m so drawn to this topic – maybe the contrast between these once decadent/bustling/joyful places and their current state of decay. They’re so delightfully eerie. Yes, I’m weird.
2. I’ve been trialling Drunk Elephant’s A-Passioni retinol cream which, at $45 for 30ml from Mecca, sure isn’t cheap. You do only use a pea-sized dollop at a time, so at least your container will last a while. It has an unpleasant chemical smell, but it’s only light so I didn’t notice too much. I did notice it goes on yellow and even after rubbing the cream in, the yellow tinge on my skin lingered. It didn’t seem to cause any trouble on my skin and did it help smooth out a few wrinkles? Look, probably, but I’m not really on board with retinol on principle – anything that allegedly helps with wrinkles but then makes your skin more sensitive to the sun seems to give with one hand and take with the other as far as I’m concerned. So, this might be a good retinol product compared with others and I do appreciate that it’s vegan and cruelty-free, but I feel like it’s not for me.
What I’m Feelin’ Right Now
‘Angry’ by the Rolling Stones
Pink earrings and hair accessories
Ice cream cakes in wacky flavour combos
Finding a cardio drumming class or following a YouTube video at home
Vegetarian laksas
The braid-into-a-messy-bun look
Patterns that feature small, cute birds
Reminiscing about my childhood sticker collection
Giveaway
Last week’s giveaway, Before You Knew My Name by Jacqueline Bublitz, was won by Tara Nikelis. Hooray! Tara, I’ve emailed you.
This week’s giveaway is Life Keeps Me Dancing by Eileen Kramer. Fill your name and email address in here to enter.
Playlist of the Week
Thursday afternoon K-pop (male energy):