Flipping pancakes in your London flat and Leighton Meester in 'The Weekend Away'
The one where we consolidate what the heck we’re doing here
I’ve renamed this month Zoom-tember, because although I somehow weaselled my way out of doing much video calling during the pandemic, this week I’ve practically done more of it than the whole rest of the time since March-or-so 2020 combined. This is not a complaint. I’ve chatted with wonderful writer peeps about their current projects (Retelling of a female-based myth! A police procedural set in London!) and my own (Crime short story about two elderly ladies! Crime short story about two early-twenties women! Hmm… maybe there’s a pattern here…).
I’m about to break the pattern, however. After setting my sights on entering the Scarlet Stiletto Award (which I did — fingers and everything else crossable crossed), I’m now keen to pen a short story about something decidedly different. An idea came to me in a dream — a very dystopian idea, although I was determined to write a literary-style story this time around. We’ll see. Much of this writing life seems to be a battle in my head between what I feel I should write to please readers/lit journals/editors/publishers/critics etc and what I want to write. Wouldn’t it be nice if these two married up occasionally?
While we wait for that to happen, enjoy this tour around the internet as reflected by what bounced around my head this week.
Oh! And thanks to everyone who’s subscribed so far. Welcome. I hope you like it here. I’d love it if you’d say hello. Do you also have a newsletter, on Substack or otherwise, or a bookish project? Feel free to leave a comment and let everyone know what you’re up to with it so we can take a look. : )
News
Fantastic that there was finally action to protect this kid: mother's anger as child protection takes years to remove child from property with alleged abuser. I’ll be generous and wonder whether it was coincidental timing that as soon as the mother contacted the ABC, the authorities suddenly moved in to place her daughter in a safer situation. I’ve worked in government, so I realise how much the individual case workers’ hands are likely tied. There’s a ray of hope here, though — as much as we like to deride the media and journalists as evil, they’re a source of power that ordinary citizens can wield.
Pleased to see this happening: a bride giving away her wedding gown on Facebook and inspiring others to follow suit. I kept my dress for a while after getting married and then decided to donate it to a charity shop. I’m not having kids, so there’s no one to pass it down to (and do you really want to guilt any daughters you have into re-wearing your crusty, out-of-fashion old gown?). It’s not doing anyone any good turning to dust up on your wardrobe’s top shelf. Take the pics and pass it on, ladies (or dress-wearing dudes).
Reviews
My partner and I managed to snag tickets to Bodies Bodies Bodies from a Facebook comp run by an escape room (since we frequent such establishments). It was one of those ‘tag a friend to enter’ types of deals. So, we watched it Sunday night at our local cinema. It’s billed as a horror comedy -- not usually my wheelhouse (yes to comedy, no to horror), but I’m feeling in the mood for branching out right now and hey, did I mention it was free??? In fact, Bodies Bodies Bodies turned out to be more ‘light horror’ than ‘comedy horror’, despite the inclusion of ex-Kim-Kardashian-manbag Pete Davidson in the cast. Either way, I was thankful for the lack of gore. The storyline is: a group of twenty-somethings are partying in a remote mansion during a hurricane and play an intoxicated game of what is essentially ‘Murder in the Dark’. My verdict is… it wasn’t bad – a less slick successor to Scream for today’s generation and an attempt at commentary on paranoia and social media. Do we really trust how everyone presents themselves online and therefore who they are in reality?
A cracker of a Twitter account -- @LegoLostAtSea. This is a beachcomber’s delight of LEGO and other trinkets that’ve washed ashore, mostly retro toys and mystery plastic knickknacks. There’s even a book, launched in January this year, about the 1997 great LEGO spill that inspired it all. Get onto it.
The Weekend Away caught my eye on Netflix recently. I saw Leighton Meester was in it and being a die-hard member of the Gossip Girl brigade, I couldn’t click on past this film. It was exactly the mood I was looking for that night – a not-too-dark murder mystery set while the protagonist is on holiday in Croatia? Crack out the Cheezels and let’s go! The vibe is more creeping paranoia than twisty-turny-terror. You know those childhood nightmares where you go back to being a toddler and you’ve lost your parents in the shopping centre? Will a stranger kidnap me? Who can I trust? Sometimes moments on holiday can mirror that kiddish fear. If you lose sight of your tour guide or your friend who speaks the language, you suddenly realise how precarious your situation could be. You don’t know your way around, the customs, the scams, and the neighbourhoods to avoid. Leighton Meester is a far cry from her portrayal of ultimate rich girl Blair Waldorf here and she pulls off a vulnerable real person with aplomb. On a girls’ trip, her friend goes missing the next morning and the tension never leaves from that point on. Award-winning cinema it is not, but it’s a cosy night in for sure.
Raves and Faves
Footage of the most sneered-at female vocalists proving their worth
One of my biggest bugbears is when people diss female singers out of hand. Sure, you like what you like, and I’m not here to dictate people’s preferences, but the level of sneerage female singers get at their skill and whether they write their own lyrics is out of all proportion to the criticism male stars receive.
Here are the YouTube moments proving these chicks deserve better:
1. Kesha’s restrained-but-passionate delivery of “It Ain’t Me, Babe” at the 2016 Billboard Music Awards is a thing of beauty. She’s not all about bimbotastic dance floor anthems about drugs and drinking (although I’m deeply fond of those as well). What a comeback after all the court case f*ckery she had to endure.
2. For people who’re willing to listen, Miley has repeatedly proven she’s got pipes, but the performance that really stands out for me is her cover of Etta James’ ‘I’ll Take Care of You’ on Sunrise in 2014 in an outfit hilariously at odds with the song she’s belting out. She was only 21. Mad respect.
3. Screw all the people saying Selena Gomez whispers instead of sings, honestly. She may have had some wonky moments on stage, but the poor bird’s been battling lupus. Give her a break. Maybe she doesn’t have the strongest voice in existence, but she’s an epic songwriter and I’ll take her ASMR-like tones any day. Here’s her soft, sweet, pared-back performance of ‘Rare’ at The Village Studio.
4. Predominantly known for grinding around the stage with the Pussycat Dolls (and doing a damn good job of it, too), Nicole Scherzinger is capable of far more, including sizzling the varnish off the floorboards on stage singing “Phantom of the Opera”.
5. Whiny little no-goods are constantly complaining about Taylor Swift singing about her break-ups, as if every male singer ever hasn’t done that since the dawn of time. If they’re not attacking her over that, they’re claiming her voice is weak and unremarkable. Once again, you don’t have to shout out songs to tell a story, as her rendition of this Phil Collins cover shows.
Playlist of the Week
Flipping pancakes in your London flat on Saturday morning:
A Sunday Kind Of Love - Etta James
Honeypie - JAWNY
Perfect - Fairground Attraction
Feels Like a Dream - Emilee
Disco Yes - Tom Misch
Cereal - Crush, ZICO
Blueberry Eyes (feat SUGA of BTS) - MAX
Super Freak - Rick James
Dreamer - Dermot Kennedy
…baby one more time - The Marias
Leave The Door Open - Bruno Mars
I Ain’t Worried - OneRepublic
Friday I’m In Love - The Cure
Never Let Me Go - Jess Glynne
HandClap - Fitz and The Tantrums